Golden Eagles Wrap Up Homestand Tuesday Night Against South Dakota

Nov. 23, 2009

Milwaukee -

The Marquette University men's basketball team wraps up its season-opening four-game homestand when the team hosts South Dakota Tuesday night at the Bradley Center. The BIG?EAST Network will feature the broadcast, with Bob Picozzi (play-by-play) and Dickey Simpkins (analyst) calling the action. The matchup with the Coyotes will air live in the greater Milwaukee area on Sports32, as well as SportsNet New York, Altitude2 (Denver), Metro-KC (Kansas City) and ESPN FullCourt. MU will make a quick return to the court following Tuesday's matchup, opening play at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla., against Xavier at 1:30 p.m. CT Thursday afternoon.

Bench Corps Contributing Early In 2009-10
Through the entire 2008-09 campaign, a total of just six players earned a starting assignment for the Golden Eagles. In three games this year, head coach Buzz Williams has already matched that total as he experiments with lineup combinations.

MU's starting five is currently chipping in 65.5 percent of the team's scoring in 2009-10 and 63.1 percent of its rebounding. Marquette currently has six players contributing 8.7-or-more points per contest and two of those individuals (Maurice Acker and Darius Johnson-Odom) have played exclusively off the bench. Freshman Jeronne Maymon is fourth on the roster in rebounding (5.3 rpg.) in 18.0 minutes per game as a reserve.

Last season, the starting unit accounted for 81.4 percent of the team's scoring and 72.5 percent of the squad's rebounding.

Series With Coyotes Resumes After 40 Years
Marquette and South Dakota haven't met in men's basketball action in over 40 seasons, with the series dating back to the early years of Al McGuire's tenure with the school.

MU has claimed each of the three previous meetings, with the first coming at home in the second game of the 1966-67 campaign. The two teams also met in home-and-home action in 1967-68, the first season McGuire led Marquette to the NCAA Tournament.

MU is 15-0 all-time against teams currently in the Great West Conference.

Buycks Makes The Most Of Minutes Against Tigers
Hours after Angel Robinson of the Marquette women's basketball team collected the first triple-double in program history, junior Dwight Buycks nearly accomplished the same feat for the men's squad.

In just 29 minutes of action, the Milwaukee native contributed 10 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for his first career double-double. He shot 4-of-8 from the floor, including a 2-of-3 effort from behind the 3-point line. Buycks had 10 points and eight rebounds at the intermission.

Marquette's most recent triple-double was recorded by Dwyane Wade against Kentucky in the 2003 NCAA?Elite 8 matchup.