No. 16 Marquette Opens League Play New Year's Day

The Marquette University men's basketball team (11-2, 0-0 BIG EAST) opens the BIG EAST Conference portion of its schedule Tuesday, Jan. 1 at 6 p.m. CT when the squad travels to St. John's (12-1, 0-1 BIG EAST) to face the Red Storm in Carnesecca Arena in the league lidlifter. FS1 will feature the television broadcast, with Brian Custer (play-by-play) and Len Elmore (analyst) calling the action. Following Tuesday's game, MU will return home to host Xavier on Sunday, Jan. 6 at Fiserv Forum.

Series With St. John's Filled With History

The all-time series (Marquette leads 20-12) began in 1959-60 and prior to the clinching of the BIG EAST title on the last day of the regular season in 2012-13, the series' top highlight was a 65-53 Marquette win in the championship game of the 1970 National Invitation Tournament.

MU claimed the title under the direction of legendary head coach Al McGuire, who played for three seasons at St. John's (1948-51). McGuire's coaching career at Marquette included the 1977 national title, nine NCAA tournament appearances and a 295-80 overall record.

The two teams split the season series in 2017-18, with each program winning on its respective home court. In the most recent matchup, MU earned an 85-73 decision at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Feb. 21, 2018. Forward Sam Hauser led five players in double figures with 24 points in the victory and guard Jamal Cain chipped in 11 points off of the bench. MU was without the services of guard Markus Howard in that outing, who missed the matchup with an injury suffered in the previous game.

MU Begins 30th Season Of League Play

The Golden Eagles are 17-12 all-time in conference openers, including a 6-7 mark in BIG EAST Conference action.

Marquette didn't begin league affiliation until joining the Midwestern Collegiate Conference in 1989-90. The 1991-92 campaign was the first in the Great Midwest Conference and a stop in Conference USA preceded the move to the BIG EAST in 2005-06.

In 2017-18, the Golden Eagles opened BIG EAST action with a narrow 91-87 setback to No. 6 Xavier at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

Marquette has opened BIG EAST play at home in six of the last eight seasons.

New Year's Matchup Features League's Top Scorers

Tuesday night's matchup will feature two of not only the top scorers in the BIG EAST Conference, but nationally as well.

Marquette's Markus Howard currently leads the league (through games of Dec. 30) with 25.1 points per game and is fourth in the country. Red Storm guard Shamorie Ponds owns the fourth position in the conference with 18.7 points per outing.

Howard's Recent Efficiency At Historic Levels

It's impressive enough that Markus Howard is averaging 32.3 points per game in the last three outings. What takes it to the next level, however, is the fact he has produced at that level in just 23.7 minutes per contest.

The Chandler, Arizona, native scored 40 points in the second half against Buffalo, including 25-straight for Marquette from the 7:11 mark to 1:44 left in the game. He finished the contest with 45 points on 12-of-25 shooting from the floor, including a 9-of-13 effort from behind the 3-point line. He also knocked down all 12 of his free throw attempts.

In the win over Southern, Howard scored a game-high 26 points in 16 minutes, including 15-straight at one point. He finished 6-of-6 from long distance, the fourth player in school history to finish perfect from long distance on at least six attempts.

His 40 second-half points against Buffalo, together with his 23 first-half points vs. Southern, equaled 63 points over those two halves spanning 26:21 of game action.