No. 13 MARQUETTE 79, CONNECTICUT 64: Jae Crowder scored a career-high tying 29 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, leading the Golden Eagles to a wire-to-wire victory over the floundering defending national champions.

Darius Johnson-Odom added 24 points for Marquette (22-5, 11-3 Big East), which has won 10 of 11 and appears to be well on its way to earning a double-bye in the upcoming Big East Tournament.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Lamb scored 19 points for the Huskies (16-10, 6-8), who have lost nine of 13 and are in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament one year after winning it all. They were without Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun (medical leave) for a fifth straight game.

The roles were reversed from last season when Marquette earned a 74-67 overtime victory in Hartford – a win it needed to boost its NCAA Tournament resume'. UConn was the desperate team this time, but it didn’t show early.

The Huskies trailed 43-29 at the half, but climbed back into the game with a 15-5 run to start the second half. An unsportsmanlike technical foul on freshman Ryan Boatright after Alex Oriakhi’s dunk killed all the momentum, however. Boatright was seen yelling in the ear of Todd Mayo as the teams walked off the court prior to a TV timeout. Johnson-Odom hit the ensuing free throws and Crowder hit a 3-pointer on the next trip, pushing Marquette’s lead to 53-44.

Lamb’s dunk moments later drew the Huskies to within 53-48 with just over 14 minutes left, but Crowder responded with back-to-back 3-pointers and the Huskies never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The undersized Golden Eagles were without Davante Gardner (knee) for a fifth straight game. … Despite its size advantage, UConn was outrebounded 20-13 in the first half and 30-27 overall.