MILWAUKEE – Dwight Buycks scored a career-high 21 points and Marquette made a blistering 12 of its 17 3-point attempts in a 79-57 upset of No. 9 Notre Dame on Monday night.
Buycks hit all five of his 3-point attempts and Jae Crowder added 18 points for Marquette (12-5, 3-1 Big East), which put on its best long-distance shooting performance in 10 years.
Notre Dame (14-3, 3-2) gained five spots in Monday's poll, its highest ranking since January 2009, but it'll be tough for them to move higher despite getting 15 points from Eric Atkins.
Big East player of the week Ben Hansbrough had nine points and the Fighting Irish shot 39.6 percent overall, including 3 of 16 from 3-point range.
Jimmy Butler scored 15 points and Darius Johnson-Odom added 13 for the Golden Eagles, which came in shooting 35 percent from 3-point range, while Tim Abromaitis and Scott Martin finished with 10 points each for the Irish.
Last year, Hansbrough managed just six points in Milwaukee, but Carleton Scott hit a 3 that sent it to overtime and Notre Dame won 63-60 in its last conference road victory.
With the 6-foot-8 Scott out with a hamstring injury, the Irish struggled knocking down shots or getting good looks down low after shooting 51 percent in a 76-61 win over St. John's on Saturday.
Hansbrough, named conference player of the week earlier Monday, had a career-best 26 points against the Red Storm, but finished 3 of 9 from the field and snapped a string of 10 straight games with at least 10 points.
Marquette is in the middle of a stretch of seven ranked opponents in eight games, and came into Monday night 0-4 against Top 25 teams this season.
In the final three weeks of this stretch, the Golden Eagles will face No. 18 Louisville, No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 10 Connecticut, No. 4 Syracuse and No. 7 Villanova.
The schedule certainly doesn't seem quite as daunting after Marquette's 3-point effort and much improved defense against Notre Dame following an uncharacteristic 89-81 loss at Pittsburgh where the Panthers shot 60 percent.
Crowder knocked down his fourth 3-pointer early in the second half, and Marquette extended the lead to double digits at 41-31 for the first time on a free throw by Vander Blue.
Darius Johnson-Odom's 3 put the Golden Eagles up 49-36 with 12:48 left, Buycks drained another and Johnson-Odom finished a fastbreak with an emphatic slam that made it 64-43 with 7:39 to play.
Notre Dame got into a hole early after going more than 5 minutes without a point in the first half, missing seven straight shots until Atkins' layup ended the cold streak.
Marquette answered when Chris Otule converted a three-point play to give the Golden Eagles an 18-9 lead and they took a 33-28 lead into halftime.
Tyrone Nash hit one of two free throws to start the second half, but the Irish wouldn't get any closer because of the Golden Eagles' 3-point barrage, their best effort since going 12 of 15 in a win over Tulane in 2001.
(This version CORRECTS Marquette 79, No. 9 Notre Dame 57. Corrects Marquette's 3-pointers)
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