Marquette stuns No. 6 Baylor with massive 26-point upset

No. 6 Baylor got rocked in Milwaukee on Tuesday night.

It’s as if they didn’t show up until midway through the second half, and by then it was far too late.

Unranked Marquette completely rolled over the Bears, taking the dominant 96-70 win at Fiserv Forum. It marked Baylor’s worst loss since 2007, and Marquette’s biggest against a top-10 team in 51 years.

Marquette took full advantage of a slow start from Baylor, which struggled to do much of anything in the first half and quickly found itself on the wrong side of a 25-9 run out of the gate. The Golden Eagles ended the period on a 10-2 run that spanned more than five minutes, too, which gave them a massive 51-25 lead at the break. They forced a whopping 16 turnovers in the first 20 minutes of the game, too, and limited Baylor to just 10 field goals.

The second half opened much better for the Bears, who traded buckets with Marquette through the opening minutes. But by then, Marquette’s lead was simply too big. The Golden Eagles rolled to their 26-point win

Olivier-Maxence Prosper led Marquette with 24 points while shooting 9-of-12 from the field. Kam Jones finished with 20 points with four 3-pointers, and David Joplin added 19 points off the bench. The Golden Eagles shot nearly 60% from the field as a team, too, and went 12-of-25 from behind the arc.

LJ Cryer led Baylor with 19 points, and Adam Flagler added 16 points and six rebounds. Keyonte George was the only other player to finish in double figures with 12 points. Baylor had 20 turnovers on the night, which led to 26 Marquette points.

Now, Marquette clearly isn’t a bad team. The Golden Eagles’ only losses this season came at the hands of No. 5 Purdue and Mississippi State, and they fell by a combined eight points. They weren’t the favorite to win the Big East by any means — that honor goes to No. 9 Creighton — but Tuesday proved that Marquette can absolutely run with anyone.

Baylor, on the other hand, has a lot of work to do. The Bears have a matchup with No. 14 Gonzaga on Friday, too — so they’ll have to figure things out quick.

This post will be updated with more information shortly.