CINCINNATI 72, MARQUETTE 61: Jaquon Parker scored a career-high 28 points and the Bearcats avenged their worst loss of the season by ending the seventh-ranked Golden Eagles’ five-game winning streak in surprisingly easy fashion.
Dion Dixon scored 21 points in his final home game and Justin Jackson had a career-high six blocks for Cincinnati (21-9, 11-6 Big East), which led 42-26 at the half and by as many as 19 in the second half.

Cincinnati is now safely off the NCAA Tournament bubble after knocking off a ranked team for the second time in less than a week. The Bearcats beat then-No. 17 Louisville – also at home – last Thursday.

Cincinnati held the Big East’s highest scoring team 15 points below its season average. That helped it turn the tables on Marquette (24-6, 13-4), less than a month after suffering a humiliating 95-78 road loss to the Golden Eagles.

The Bearcats didn’t do it in typical fashion, however. They entered as the best 3-point shooting team in the Big East, but hit just 4 of 23 from beyond the arc. Cincinnati, instead, scored 30 points in the paint en route to a 42-26 halftime advantage.

Darius Johnson-Odom scored 18 points for Marquette.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Cincinnati missed 13 straight 3-pointers after hitting its first attempt of the game. … Bearcats senior center Yancy Gates sat most of the first half after picking up his second foul just four minutes in.