UConn visits Marquette to kick off three-game trip

Talk about dramatic turnarounds.

Talk about dramatic turnarounds.

When Marquette fell behind Georgetown by 18 points early in the second half Saturday night at Washington, D.C., it looked like the Golden Eagles were headed for a fourth straight Big East Conference loss.

Instead, Jamal Cain led a huge comeback that eventually erased a 38-20 deficit, leading to his 3-pointer with less than 20 seconds remaining that sealed a 64-60 victory.

Cain and Marquette aim to build off that performance Tuesday night when Connecticut comes to Milwaukee for another conference matchup.

"We didn't dwell on things," Cain said of the win at Georgetown. "We knew there was another 20 minutes. Guys kept playing hard. It was just a mindset for us. We know we can play defense and we showed what it is when we have the right mindset."

The Golden Eagles (6-5, 2-3 Big East) clamped down on the Hoyas down the stretch, allowing only six points over the final nine minutes. They held Georgetown scoreless for nearly five minutes at one point.

Cain pumped in a game-high 25 points for Marquette, upping his scoring average to 11.5 points per game. Dawson Garcia added nine points and 13 rebounds, winning him Big East Freshman of the Week honors. He is second on the team in scoring at 12.4 points and also grabs 7.3 rebounds.

Meanwhile, Connecticut (4-1, 1-1) earned its first conference win Wednesday night with an 82-61 thumping of visiting DePaul. Rhode Island transfer Tyrese Martin collected 22 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double with the Huskies.

James Bouknight scored 20 points, just under his 23.2 average, and Josh Carlton came off the bench for 11 points and 10 rebounds. It was Connecticut's first game in 10 days, a fact not lost on coach Dan Hurley.

"Happy to play a game again and thrilled to get our first conference win," he said. "We look forward to getting into a more consistent practice schedule going forward. COVID-19 has been tough because I'm learning about my team during our second conference game."

This will be the Huskies' first road game of the season and the start of a three-game trip that will also take it to Butler and DePaul. The trip to DePaul is a makeup of a Dec. 23 game that was postponed because of COVID-19 concerns.

Marquette leads the all-time series 6-3, but the teams haven't played since January 2013.

--Field Level Media