Marquette vs. Creighton: Score and Reaction from 2017 Regular Season

The No. 7 Creighton Bluejays returned to the floor Saturday for the first time since they lost guard Maurice Watson Jr. to a torn ACL, and the results weren't pretty. 

Matched up against the Marquette Golden Eagles (13-6, 4-3) in a Big East showdown at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska, the Bluejays were upended 102-94 to fall to 18-2 (5-2 conference). 

The Creighton offense chugged along at a fine pace for portions of the loss, but its defense was nowhere to be found against a Golden Eagles unit that ranks eighth in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com. 

The Omaha World-Herald's Jon Nyatawa put Marquette's offensive explosion in perspective: 

Katin Reinhardt, who entered the day with a season high of 19 points, went berserk off the bench and dropped 21 points on a tidy 8-of-13 shooting to go with seven assists and two steals. 

Luke Fischer also came up large on a day when seven Marquette scorers finished in double figures. Not only did the senior pile up 18 points, but he also stuffed the stat sheet with eight rebounds and six blocks. 

Fox Sports' Tim Brando took note of Fischer's superlative play in the midst of the blowout: 

As a team, the Golden Eagles rattled home 60 percent of their looks from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc. By comparison, Creighton found twine on 48.5 percent of its field-goal attempts. 

And while Marcus Foster filled it up with a game-high 30 points, the Bluejays didn't have enough flow on offense to make up for their defensive shortcomings. 

Of course, struggles should have been expected without the team's assist leader. 

Entering Saturday's showdown, Watson led the Bluejays with 160 assists—110 more than the second-placed Khyri Thomas. 

Against Marquette, Creighton leaned on Davion Mintz to do the bulk of the dime-dropping; he totaled eight along with 17 points off the bench. Thomas chipped in five helpers, but no other player had more than a single dime. 

The good news for the Bluejays is there's plenty of time to learn how to operate without their top distributor. With a pair of winnable games on the horizon against Georgetown and DePaul, Greg McDermott's squad should snap back into the win column in a big way.

Marquette, meanwhile, did well to bounce back from a tough loss to Butler on Jan. 16. and looks like a potential bracket-buster if it can qualify for the NCAA tournament. 

However, the Golden Eagles' toughest test yet looms Tuesday with the top-ranked Villanova Wildcats coming to town for what figures to be another entertaining Big East clash.

Postgame Reaction

After the win, Marquette's official Twitter account relayed video of the team's celebration: 

"[Marquette] is as close to 6-1 (in the Big East) as they are to 4-3," McDermott said in his postgame praise of the Golden Eagles, per Marquette Wire's Connor Basch. 

Golden Eagles head coach Steve Wojciechowski was thrilled with the play from his seniors. 

"They were terrific," Wojciechowski said via Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Not just with the way they scored, but the way they played. I thought they had tremendous presence on the floor."

For Fischer, it was a big way to break out of a tough stretch of play, as he described his night via Velazquez:

"

The past couple games were really frustrating. I put in extra work this week, I put my trust in my teammates, I told them I had their back and that they can count on me from here on out. It's amazing what happens when you put yourself totally into winning and totally into your team.

"

Marquette will need him to be just as solid come Tuesday against Villanova.