MU Wraps Up Non-Conference Play Sunday Against Presbyterian
12/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 23, 2009
Milwaukee -
The Marquette University men's basketball team wraps up the non-conference portion of its 2009-10 campaign Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT at the Bradley Center. The matchup with the Blue Hose will mark MU's lone non-televised contest of the campaign. GoMarquette.com will stream the game live through the site's All-Access multimedia platform, pairing the in-house video with the 540 ESPN radio broadcast. Following Sunday's game, the team will depart for West Virginia the the league lidlifter on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT. The contest with the Mountaineers will air on the BIG EAST Network, including in the greater Milwaukee area on Sports32.
"The Gauntlet" Returns Early In 2009-10
Last season, the Golden Eagles concluded the conference campaign with a brutal four-game stretch that saw the team face four-straight top-25 opponents (three in the top 10).
In 2009-10, Marquette will start BIG EAST competition against four programs currently ranked in the nation's top 15, including a trio in the top eight. After opening league action at No. 6/6 West Virginia on Dec. 29, the Golden Eagles will take the court against No. 8/8 Villanova twice in a week(Jan. 2 and 9) in a home-and-home series and host No. 14/14 Georgetown (Jan. 6).
Marquette finished 0-4 in those games a season ago, playing all but a few minutes without the services of senior guard Dominic James, who was lost with a foot injury.
Butler Is Doing It Early In 2009-10
Junior forward Jimmy Butler developed into a valuable performer off the bench last season, steadily improving as the year progressed.
The Tomball, Texas, native, moved into the starting lineup this season and has established himself as a consistent and efficient offensive threat. He is currently contributing 16.1 points (14th in BIG EAST) and 7.1 rebounds (13th in BIG EAST) per game while shooting 61.8 percent (4th in BIG EAST) from the floor and 74.1 percent from the charity stripe.
Through 11 games in 2008-09, Butler averaged just 4.0 points and 2.8 rebounds per contest.
Numbers Improve Despite Loss Of Senior Class
Despite the loss of one of the most successful senior classes (Dwight Burke, Dominic James, Wesley Matthews, Jerel McNeal) in school history, Marquette's numbers through 11 games are actually better than they were a year ago in the same number of outings.
This season, the Golden Eagles are shooting 47.1 percent from the floor, 39.4 percent from behind the 3-point line and 72.0 percent from the charity stripe. All of those numbers are up from the 2008-09 11-game clips of 45.7 percent, 34.1 percent and 71.0 percent, respectively.
Despite the across-the-board shooting improvement, last year's team still managed to average six more points per game in non-conference play. MU's defensive efforts in 2009-10 are allowing the roster to give up 8.9 points per game less than last year and opposing players are shooting lower in all three categories.
According to CollegeRPI.com, Marquette's 11-game schedule ranks 127th in the nation as of Dec. 23. The squad's slate in 2008-09 ranked 199th following the team's 9-2 start.
