Chase Ross scored 23 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out six assists to lead Marquette to a 100-82 victory over the Southern on Wednesday in Milwaukee.

Zaide Lowery, Caedin Hamilton and Sean Jones each added 12 for Marquette (2-0). Ben Gold amassed 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Michael Jacobs led Southern (0-2) with 21 points on 7-for-13 shooting, and he pulled down 10 rebounds. AJ Barnes added 17, and DaMariee Jones scored 15.

Similar to Marquette’s season opener against Albany, it was a slow start on the offensive end for the Golden Eagles and a tight first half.

Southern outshot Marquette 47% to 39%, though the Golden Eagles scored 12 points off of nine Jaguars turnovers. They also made six 3-pointers compared to just two for Southern and went into halftime up 43-37.

Marquette then came out firing in the second half, as the team fired off an early 7-0 run and took a double-digit advantage that it would not relinquish.

Hamilton scored 10 points in the second half alone, and the Golden Eagles hit eight more 3-pointers in the half, including three from freshman Michael Phillips, which are the first three field goals of his career.

Marquette shot 50% from the floor on the night and 16-for-20 from the free-throw line, while Southern shot just 5-for-17 from beyond the arc. The Golden Eagles also dished out 19 assists on the night and forced 13 turnovers.

Marquette’s Shaka Smart won his 100th game as head coach in his fifth season at the helm of the program.

The Golden Eagles now prepare to take on Indiana in a neutral-site battle in Chicago on Sunday. Southern gets a break from playing Power Five teams as the Jaguars match up with Alcorn State on Saturday.

–Field Level Media