On a night when all 10 league squads were in action, Marquette moved into first place and the BIG EAST standings got scrunched up even more.
Marquette used a strong second half to defeat Butler 79-69 at Fiserv Forum. Markus Howard scored 28 points and Theo John was a force inside with 15 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots. Butler’s Sean McDermott notched a career-high 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds. The Golden Eagles, ranked 11th in AP and 10th in USA Today, improved to 22-4 overall and 11-2 in league play. Butler fell to 15-12 overall and 6-8 in the BIG EAST.