Butler, Otule lead Marquette by South Dakota 82-69

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Buzz Williams was unhappy despite the easy victory.

Jimmy Butler scored 20 points and Marquette took command early to defeat South Dakota 82-69 on Saturday.

"I'm glad it's over," Williams said. "I thought we were average at best. It was by far our worst performance of the year."

Williams took exception to the team effort, especially knowing that the Golden Eagles play No. 1 Duke on Monday in Kansas City, Mo.

"It's never a good time to play Duke -- that's probably the right way to say it," he said. "I think they're good enough to be an above-.500 team in the NBA, not the NCAA."

South Dakota's bench was steadier and outscored Marquette 25-15. The Coyotes owned the fast break, with 27 points to 16 for Marquette, and capitalized on turnovers 23-17.

Former Northwestern Tiger Steve Tecker, a freshman for South Dakota, was held scoreless.

While Marquette dominated points in the paint 48-34, including 16 second-chance points to just eight for South Dakota, it still didn't meet Williams' expectations.

"We can't do what we need to do on both ends of the floor," he said after his team led by 15 in the first half and by 23 in the second. "Until we can do that, we'll struggle to have a lot of success."

The bright spots were Butler, who became the first Golden Eagle to score 20 points this season, and Chris Otule, who added a collegiate-high 15 for the Golden Eagles (4-0) despite Williams' misgivings.

"If we were playing half-court, he'd be all-conference," Williams said about Otule. "But that's the problem. It's not hoop it up back home. You have to be able to guard a ball screen."

Charlie Westbrook scored 17 points and Jake Thomas, Louie Krogman and Mitchell Bouie each had 11 for South Dakota (1-2).

Marquette held a comfortable lead until South Dakota used two 3-pointers from Jordan Boots and one from Thomas to close to 26-21 with 8:06 left in the first half. Marquette countered with an 18-8 run capped by Otule's dunk and layup for a 43-29 edge at the half.

Butler and Otule made sure of the victory in the second half when they led a 12-3 surge. Otule started it with five points before Butler scored the next seven, and the Golden Eagles led 57-37 with 12:28 to play. The lead never slipped below 11 the rest of the way.

Butler grabbed nine rebounds and Otule eight as Marquette improved to 5-0 over South Dakota in the series, including a 93-68 victory last season.

Boots scored 10 points for South Dakota, which is beginning its third season in NCAA Division I.

Darius Johnson-Odom had 14 points and Dwight Buycks 11 for Marquette, which shot 29 of 60 (48.3 percent). South Dakota hurt its chances by shooting 12 of 32 (37.5 percent) in the first half. The Coyotes finished the game at 27 of 66 (40.9 percent).

South Dakota coach Dave Boots said Marquette' success off the glass didn't come down to a height advantage.

"It was hard to keep them off the boards," he said. "You just can't say they were bigger than us. They were really quick, and they play hard and are super coached. It was a lot more than just bigger than us."

Marquette started the game without Joe Fulce and then lost Davante Gardner in the first half.

Gardner, a freshman forward, hurt his left shoulder in a scramble under the Coyotes' basket and did not return. He sat on the bench with his shoulder bandaged.

"He wore some sort of fancy treatment deal, but I haven't had a chance to try to find out what it exactly is," Williams said.

Fulce, a senior forward, is expected to be out two weeks with a left knee injury.

"His knee was drained, he took a shot," Williams said.