It wasn't pretty, but the Marquette men's basketball team will take its 79-70 victory over Northern Illinois at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Monday night.
After a nine-day break between games, the Golden Eagles (8-3) struggled with their shooting and foul trouble.
MU was 9 of 30 (30%) on three-pointers. The teams combined for 47 fouls and 53 free-throw attempts.
But MU eventually pulled away in the second half, grabbing the lead for good with 12:49 remaining against the Huskies (6-5).
Sophomore guard Markus Howard scored 26 points to lead MU. Sophomore wing Sam Hauser added 21 and senior guard Andrew Rowsey 11.
BOX SCORE: Marquette 79, Northern Illinois 70
Howard has five straight games of scoring 20 or more points. Against Northern Illinois, Howard shot 7 of 19, including 3 of 12 from beyond the arc.
"I'm just glad we got the win, that's all I really care about," Howard said. "I could care less about how I shot. I'm just glad we had guys step up."
Sophomore guard Eugene German led the Huskies with 26 points.
Rowsey left the game with 6:40 remaining after suffering a leg injury while driving into the lane. He was down on the court in pain before walking back to the locker room with the team's athletic trainer. He later returned to the bench but did not play again.
MU coach Steve Wojciechowski was happy to grind out the victory after the team was off since Dec. 9 for finals.
"You guys pay attention to college basketball, in the last 72 hours some wacky things have happened," said Wojciechowski about an upset-filled weekend. "These games cause coaches great angst. Nine days off is a long time."
MU played its first game with sophomore center Harry Froling, who was eligible after transferring from Southern Methodist.
Froling checked into the game at the 13:52 mark of the first half to a big applause from the home crowd. He had a turnover on a forced pass down low to freshman Theo John and also pulled down a defensive rebound before subbing out after 89 seconds.
He came back in at the 6:08 mark and soon after grabbed an offensive rebound. However, Froling was wide of the mark on the put-back attempt. He subbed back out at 4:52.
Froling did not play in the second half, totaling three minutes of action.
"We've had a rotation of eight guys and he's going to have to work himself into more minutes," Wojciechowski said. "He knows that. It's something that we've talked about.
"One of the things that had made it a little more difficult is that Theo John had his best game as a Marquette player and it's really hard to take Sam Hauser off the floor.
"We have to take a look at having a bigger lineup (with Froling), which we will. But that's not necessarily something you are going to do during exam week when guys are fried. Those things will continue to develop and evolve. Harry will be just fine, I don't worry about him. He's going to be a real important player for us."
John, the 6-9 freshman center called "Tarzan" by teammates for his muscle-bound build, pulled down five rebounds in the first 20 minutes, including three on the offensive end, and added two emphatic blocks. John was also whistled twice for fouls, which have been a problem for him all season.
John finished with seven points, five rebounds and four fouls.
He has fouled out in four of MU's 11 games, and this was his second game with four fouls.
"I'm still getting used to college game. In high school, I was not allowed to play physical at all," John said. "And now, just knowing that happy medium between playing too-physical and playing just-enough physical, I'm still working through that.
John and fellow center Matt Heldt had three blocks apiece. The Golden Eagles finished with 10 rejections, the first time they have reached double digits in that category since a 75-69 victory over Butler on Jan. 30, 2016.