Matt Velazquez

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

There came a point during Saturday's game between Marquette and Providence that all the sellout crowd at the Dunkin' Donuts Center could do was collectively throw their hands up in disbelief.

Markus Howard, the Golden Eagles' precocious 17-year-old freshman point guard, was the cause of their incredulity as he lit up the Friars from three-point range. He went 3 of 4 in the first half then made his first three three-point attempts in the second half, including one that banked in and another that came from well beyond the three-pointer arc at the top of the key.

By the end of the game, a 73-69 lossfor Marquette, Howard had 24 points while making 6 of 8 three-pointers. Over the past three games, he has made 16 of 21 three-pointers, helping him record the No. 1 three-point shooting percentage in the nation at 55.4% (72 of 130). The only other player in the country above 50% is Kennesaw State's Nick Masterson (52.9%) and the next best freshmen are Detroit Mercy's Corey Allen (45.0%) and Kentucky's Malik Monk (41.9%).

Asked about his staggering numbers, Howard immediately deflected the attention away from himself.

"I give all the credit to my teammates," he said. "They gave me the ball in good position then it's just me being ready to shoot."

Being the top sharpshooter in the country at just 17 years old — he (finally) turns 18 on Friday — wasn't something Howard had much interest in reveling in after the Golden Eagles' gutting loss to the Friars. Despite leading Marquette in scoring on Saturday and throughout this season, Howard wished he could have done more. He had five turnovers and didn't record an assist, but more than anything lamented his ability to play just 24 minutes due to foul trouble.

He picked up two fouls in the opening three minutes and had to manage during limited minutes for the rest of the game. When asked about how it impacted him on Saturday, Howard took a wider focus with his response.

"It was frustrating," Howard said. "That's my fault. I let my team down in the sense of not playing smart and picking up those costly fouls in the beginning. I've got to be better. I've got to learn to play without fouling. ...

"It's been something the whole year. I've had to adjust to the physicality and the way the refs call the game. I still have to get used to it and try to adjust my game around how the refs are calling it that day. There's nothing I can really do besides just play my hardest and try to adjust each and every game."

More about the floor: There's no getting around how large of an impact the Dunkin' Donuts Center's slippery court played during Saturday's game.

With a hockey rink below the floor and warmer than usual temperatures warming up the building despite the air conditioning on full blast, condensation built up all afternoon. From the early moments of the game, players from both teams were losing their footing and dropping to the ground, causing breaks in the action so that towel-bearing managers and attendants with mops could try to dry off the surface of the court.

"It was tough," Marquette's Katin Reinhardt said. "Every time you made a move or anything you definitely slipped and you were really hesitant. You almost needed another second just so you could gather your feet. But they said play on, so we had to do what we had to do and compete."

There were slips, splits and slides during the opening half. Players seemingly didn't trust their cuts and play was disjointed by all the breaks. At one point, Marquette redshirt junior Andrew Rowsey dove for a loose ball and slid nearly a quarter of the court as if on ice instead of hardwood.

With the apparent danger, it appeared at times like head official Ed Corbett mulled stopping the game — something that is up to the referees once the game has begun.

"When everybody started tripping in the first half we were kind of hesitant," Reinhardt said. "They said if it keeps happening they were going to shut it down. Then for a period of time nobody really slipped or anything like that ... so we just kept going."

At halftime, both head coaches had a conversation with the referees that ended with the decision to play on.

"Both teams had to play with it and I'm pretty sure both teams struggled with it," Providence coach Ed Cooley said. "We agreed at halftime that as long as no one got hurt we'd play through it."

Luckily no injuries occurred.

Shortly after the second half began, spectators at the Dunkin' Donuts Center learned of another halftime agreement as multiple ballhandlers slipped and weren't called for traveling. Instead, the referees blew the play dead and the offense maintained possession. More often than not that situation happened with Providence in possession as the Friars' side of the court seemed to be slicker. Marquette did benefit from that situation a couple times, including one where Reinhardt couldn't catch a pass because he had fallen while cutting toward the ball.

"The floor was slippery, guys were slipping all over the place and they asked us at halftime if we wanted to call those travels or if we wanted it to be where kids aren't penalized for a slippery floor," Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski said. "Look, obviously, if I would have said to call them travels we would have had six more possessions, but that's not the good, sporting thing to do. The sporting thing to do is when it's out of a kid's control is to give the ball back to him. So that's what we did."

The slickness of the court wasn't the reason why Providence won or Marquette lost and no one from either side insinuated as such, but it clearly affected the game. The referees were not made available to the media following the game, with a representative from Providence collecting a quote that indicated all questions needed to be directed to the Big East office.

Big East associate commissioner John Paquette responded, pointing out NCAA Rule 2, Section 7, Article 16, which states that referees have control of the game once it starts.

"We were monitoring the situation and prepared to take appropriate action if the referees determined that play should be halted," Paquette said in an e-mail.

Tidbits: Marquette had just 12 assists, including only three in the second half, and dropped to 3-11 when recording 15 assists or fewer. The Golden Eagles are 1-9 when handing out 14 or fewer helpers. ...

With two regular-season games left, the Golden Eagles slipped to seventh in the Big East standings by virtue of losing a tiebreaker to Providence and Seton Hall. The tiebreaker among three or more equal teams is the record within that group. Providence split with Seton Hall and swept Marquette for a 3-1 record and by virtue of their split with the Golden Eagles the Pirates are 2-2, leaving Marquette at the bottom at 1-3. ...

Marquette centers Luke Fischer and Matt Heldt have combined to commit 28 fouls over the past three games. Fischer, who has come off the bench for each of the three, has fouled out each time in just 12.7 minutes per game. Heldt has fouled out twice, including Saturday, collecting 13 fouls while averaging 25 minutes per game.