Marquette defeats SIUE 88-77 in season opener

MILWAUKEE - Marquette University men's basketball won its season opener 88-77 on Tuesday against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) at Fiserv Forum.

Darryl Morsell led Marquette (1-0) with 21 points and forward Justin Lewis totaled his first career double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while freshman Stevie Mitchell scored 14 points in his NCAA debut.

The Golden Eagles forced SIUE into 24 turnovers and held the Cougars to 14.3% from beyond the arc.

SIUE (0-1) was paced by Ray'Sean Taylor's 16 points, with five players scoring in double digits.

Notables:

The Golden Eagles are now 89-16 in season openers, now having emerged victorious in 29 of the last 31 lidlifters.
MU moves to 2-0 against the Cougars all-time, having taken the only previous meeting in December 2016.
The victory was head coach Shaka Smart's first win at the helm of the Golden Eagles' program.
Several players made their Marquette debut in the matchup: Kam Jones, David Joplin, Tyler Kolek, Kur Kuath, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, Mitchell and Morsell. It was also the NCAA debut for Jones, Joplin and Mitchell.
Morsell, a graduate transfer from Maryland, added four rebounds and 7-for-13 shooting in 28 minutes before fouling out.
Kolek, the reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, contributed 10 points, plus a game-high nine assists and three steals.
At halftime, the Golden Eagles led 39-38 despite shooting just 22.2% from beyond the arc.
The two teams combined for 50 fouls, 30 coming in the second half.
SIUE head coach Brian Barone spent two years of his college career at Marquette, and later served multiple years on Tom Crean's coaching staff at MU.
Two members of the SIUE roster hail from the Cream City, Desmond Polk and Carlos Curtis.
SIUE guard Shaun Doss, Jr., played against Marquette last November as a member of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. In that matchup, he had 27 points and five rebounds, and tonight, he totaled 13 points.

Up Next: MU will play its second contest of the season on Friday against New Hampshire. Tipoff will be at 7:30 p.m. from Fiserv Forum, live streamed on FS2.