#MUBB Hosts No. 5/3 Villanova Wednesday At 6 p.m. CT

The Marquette University men's basketball team (5-4, 1-2 BIG EAST) returns home to continue BIG EAST Conference action on Wednesday, Dec. 23 when the squad hosts No. 5/3 Villanova (7-1, 2-0 BIG EAST) at 6 p.m. CT in Fiserv Forum. FS1 will feature the television broadcast, with Kevin Fitzgerald (play-by-play) and Steve Lavin (analyst) calling the action. Following the game, Marquette players will scatter across the country to spend Christmas with their families before returning to campus in advance of the team's next game on Jan. 2 at Georgetown.

Marquette Looks To Turn Series Trend

Villanova holds a 25-12 advantage over Marquette in an all-time series that dates back to 1960.

Along with regular season and tournament matchups in league play, the two teams also squared off in the 1963 National Invitation Tournament and the 1980 NCAA Championship. Marquette downed the Wildcats 66-58 in the NIT, but fell 77-59 in the opening round of the NCAA's in Providence, R.I.

The Wildcats have been ranked in the top-15 in 15 of the last 16 meetings against Marquette, including four matchups as the top-ranked team in the land.

Marquette To Play Third Top-10 Opponent

The 2020-21 campaign will be just 10 games old for Marquette on Dec. 23, but the outing will already mark the team's third against a top-10 foe.

MU rallied for an 89-84 win at No. 9/9 Creighton on Dec. 14 in the BIG EAST opener, claiming the team's second win against a top-10 opponent in 2020-21. Freshman forward Justin Lewis' tip-in at the buzzer gave the Golden Eagles a 67-65 win over No. 4/7 Wisconsin on Dec. 4 at Fiserv Forum.

Marquette last defeated a pair of top-10 opponents in the same season in 2016-17 when the Golden Eagles won at No. 7 Creighton (Jan. 21, 2017) in overtime and at home against No. 1 Villanova (Jan. 24, 2017) in back-to-back outings.

John Moving Up Career Blocks List

Senior forward Theo John is ranked among the league leaders (4th, 2.0 bpg.) in blocked shots this season and with every swatted attempt he continues to move up Marquette's all-time list.

The Minneapolis, Minnesota, native is currently fourth in program history with 169 blocks, right behind Amal McCaskill (2nd, 175, 1991-92, 1993-96) and Faisal (fy-SELL) Abraham (3rd, 172, 1993-97).

Unfortunately for John, second is as high as he will be able to climb in the record book, courtesy of Jim McIlvaine's four-year effort (1990-94) of 399, which still ranks the 22nd-best total in NCAA history.

McIlvaine's blocked shots record and Tony Miller's assist total (956) are likely to never even be threatened at Marquette. Dominic James is second all-time (636) in the Blue & Gold in assists, more than 300 assists less than Miller.