Darius Johnson-Odom scored 18 of his 24 points in the first half and No. 13 Marquette bounced back from its worst showing of the season with an 81-77 victory over visiting Villanova in its Big East opener on Sunday.

Davante Gardner had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Golden Eagles (12-2, 1-0 Big East). Marquette rebounded from Thursday’s abysmal effort against Vanderbilt in which it shot a season-low 32 percent and trailed by 27 points late in the first half.

Mouphtaou Yarou led four players in double figures with 14 points for Villanova (7-7, 0-2 Big East). The Wildcats committed 17 turnovers and shot just three of 17 from beyond the arc en route to their seventh loss in 10 games. Villanova is playing five freshman in a rebuilding season.

The Wildcats hung around despite poor performances from their top two scorers - guards Maalik Wayns and Dominic Cheek. The duo combined for 18 points on six of 23 shooting. Cheek fouled out with 3:55 left and Wayns picked up his fifth foul with under a minute to play.

Villanova trailed by 15 points early in the second half and was down by 11 when Cheek fouled out, but a 7-1 spurt cut the lead to five at 73-68 thanks to a 3-pointer from Achraf Yacoubou.

Marquette avoided the collapse by hitting five straight free throws. The Golden Eagles held a slim 40-37 halftime lead, but opened the second half with a 12-4 run and took their biggest lead of the day at 61-46 thanks to Johnson-Odom’s 3-pointer with just under 13 minutes to play.