MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Before a raucous crowd of 18,611 at the Bradley Center, unranked Marquette (9-0) defeated No. 24 Wisconsin (5-2) Saturday night by a score of 63-54. Fueled by the stellar play of senior point guard Travis Diener, the Golden Eagles jumped out to a commanding advantage and never relented.

“We knew that it wasn’t just another game and that it wasn’t just another game for them,” Marquette head coach Tom Crean said. “I think sometimes we’re amused inside the program when we get lumped in as just another team [in the state]. I don’t think any of our guys feel like that because we don’t look at them like that.”

On Wisconsin’s opening possession, Marquette forward Marcus Jackson ripped down a board — his first of a career-high 15 on the night — off a missed 3-pointer by Wisconsin guard Clayton Hanson. The rebound led to a fast break lay-up by forward Dameon Mason as Marquette drew first blood. After another lengthy Wisconsin possession, Marquette struck quickly once again as Diener drove the length of the court to give the Golden Eagles a 4-0 lead.

Wisconsin finally got on the board 2:30 into the game as Wisconsin swingman Alando Tucker drew a foul from Jackson while driving inside. Tucker made one of the two free throws but Diener quickly answered, sinking one from deep beyond the arc to secure a 10-1 lead. Diener nailed home a total of five shots from downtown on the evening.

“We practiced playing outside and not letting Diener get comfortable and we did the opposite,” Tucker said. “We let him get comfortable and he read all the screens and he capitalized. He hit all the big shots.”

After six consecutive missed shots and 5:44 elapsed on the clock, Wisconsin hit its first field goal — a 3-pointer by Hanson to pull within eight. On the ensuing possession, Marquette reestablished the margin by drawing a foul on a successful Mason lay-up.

For 3:06 Marquette went scoreless and the Badgers managed to fight back to within six points. However, the Badgers found themselves frequently stifled by turnovers. Both Tucker and guard Kammron Taylor coughed up the ball on critical Wisconsin drives near the midpoint in the half. A few Marquette fast breaks later, the lead was back in double digits.

In the final three minutes of the half, both teams struggled to find an open shot. Chambliss managed to drop one in from downtown and was blocked by Diener on the Badgers’ final attempt with four seconds left on the clock. Marquette entered halftime with a 34-23 lead.

After almost two-and a-half minutes of scoreless basketball to open the second half, Marquette capped off a lengthy possession with a Diener 3-point shot on the feed from Jackson.

While driving to the hoop, Tucker drew a foul from Marquette forward Chris Grimm and missed both free throws. After drawing six fouls in the Badgers’ 63-59 victory over the Golden Eagles last December at the Kohl Center, Tucker struggled in getting to the line Saturday, where he shot just 2-for-5. Last year Wisconsin outscored Marquette 22-6 from the line — Saturday the advantage belonged to the Golden Eagles 13-8.

“We settled for a lot of outside shots,” Tucker said. “When you’re on the road, you have to keep the crowd down and you only do that by getting to the line. Their crowd had a lot of energy tonight and the [Marquette players] fed off that.”

On the next possession, Chambliss stole the ball from forward Steve Novak and fed it to forward Mike Wilkinson who missed on the post up. Wilkinson, who sat out of Thursday’s practice with an undisclosed leg injury, struggled through 23 minutes of play, shooting 1-for-8 from the field and securing just one rebound.

Later in the half, Ryan eventually pulled Wilkinson from the game after it became apparent that the injury, coupled with the performance of the Golden Eagle frontcourt, had neutralized the senior’s presence entirely.

“I usually have a policy that if a guy’s not practicing for at least two days and doesn’t get on the floor, that he probably shouldn’t be on the floor,” Ryan said. “I’ll take the hit on that one with Mike (Wilkinson). On that one move in the second half with about eight minutes to go, there was no way he could push off, and he’s got to come out.”

After the Wilkinson miss, Diener took the ball down the court on the breakaway and pulled up to sink another 3-pointer, giving Marquette its largest lead of the night at 40-23 with 16:49 left in the game.

Diener’s three would be the Golden Eagles’ last points for over seven minutes. Yet the Badgers could not capitalize on the Marquette drought, shooting 2-for-11 during the stretch and trimming the lead by only five points.

Sparked by back-to-back Chambliss 3-point shots, Wisconsin cut the lead to 44-34 with 8:38 left. Diener rallied the Golden Eagles to keep the margin in double figures before Tucker dropped a 3 to pull the Badgers within ten points for the first time since the opening half. Novak promptly posted a response from beyond the arc to re-establish the 12-point lead.

In the final four minutes Wisconsin turned up the press, looking to force Marquette to turn the ball over. The lead dropped below 10 once again until forward Joe Chapman added an easy lay-up with 1:14 left on the clock. Both Chambliss and Tucker drained 3-point shots to cut the lead back down to six, but the Badgers could not complete the comeback.

Wisconsin missed its last two shots from the field and Marquette hit 3-of-4 from the line to secure a comfortable win in the 111th meeting between the in-state rivals.