Marquette's Big East opener couldn't have gone much worse.
The Golden Eagles had a firm grasp on a struggling DePaul team when they suddenly became unable to take care of the basketball. Marquette blew a 13-point lead to drop its conference lid lifter, 61-58, to the Blue Demons at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.
To add insult to injury, DePaul snapped its six-game losing streak without leading rebounder and second-leading scorer Tommy Hamilton IV, as the sophomore center was suspended due to a violation of team rules.
1 big moment: DePaul sophomore guard Darrick Wood left Marquette with an opportunity to tie the game by only hitting one of his two free-throw attempts with 19 seconds remaining.
Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski called timeout with 9.7 seconds on the clock to set up a final play. The Golden Eagles got two looks at a game-tying 3-point attempt, but Duane Wilson and Matt Carlino couldn't connect.
2 top performers: With Hamilton suspended, reigning Big East rookie of the year Billy Garrett Jr. carried the load offensively for the Blue Demons. Garrett scored a season-high 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including hitting a pair of 3-pointers.
Senior forward Juan Anderson finished with nine points and eight rebounds in 37 minutes for the Golden Eagles.
3 key stats: The Golden Eagles finished with 15 turnovers, but eight of those miscues came during Marquette's collapse in the final 11 minutes, 46 seconds of the game. DePaul scored 16 points off Marquette's 10 second-half turnovers while only turning the ball over three times itself during the final 20 minutes.
After leading 49-36 with 11:46 to play, Marquette was outscored, 25-9, the rest of the way. The Golden Eagles were held scoreless for four minutes, 26 seconds but still led by nine points when Duane Wilson scored with 7:20 to play.
Only Duane Wilson and Carlino scored in double figures for the Golden Eagles, but they were a combined 7 of 24 from the field. Marquette finished with a 38.6 field-goal percentage.
Said: "Our turnovers killed us. They scored a third of their points on our turnovers. Overall, we've been pretty good about not turning the ball over. They made us pay when we did. We spotted them 21 points off of turnovers that were really unforced. It was reckless play. It was not smart play. It would have helped if we made shots, but we could have won the game even with our poor shooting from the field." â Wojciechowski said on ESPN Milwaukee's postgame show
Seen: Marquette played a seven-man rotation Wednesday, with Jajuan Johnson and Luke Fischer being the only two players to appear off the bench. Freshman Sandy Cohen III didn't play for the first time this season.
Walk-on guard Pete Thaus is no longer a member of the Marquette program. Thaus joined the roster on Dec. 11 following the transfers of Deonte Burton and John Dawson and did not appear in a game.
Marquette will add 6-foot-5 twins Michael and Matthew Mache as walk-ons when the NCAA clears them. The twins, who were serving as managers for the Marquette women's basketball team, are academically juniors but will be redshirt sophomores athletically.
The Mache twins attended Glenbard West High School in Illinois.
Next: Marquette will return home to face Providence at the BMO Harris Bradley Center at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
The Friars entered Wednesday's Big East opener against Creighton with a 10-3 record.
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