#18 Marquette Travels To #15 Villanova Wednesday Night

The No. 18/22 Marquette University men's basketball team (17-6, 7-4 BIG EAST) continues BIG EAST action on the road at No. 15/16 Villanova (17-6, 7-4 BIG EAST) on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. CT in Finneran Pavilion. FS1 will feature the national television broadcast, with Brian Custer (play-by-play) and Jim Spanarkel (analyst) calling the action. Following Wednesday's game, the Golden Eagles will enjoy their second bye in league play before hosting No. 23/21 Creighton on Feb. 18 in the third-straight matchup against a nationally ranked opponent.

Marquette Looks To Turn Series Trend

Villanova holds a 24-12 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 14 of the last 15 meetings against Marquette, including four matchups as the top-ranked team in the land. The Golden Eagles, who claimed the first meeting of the season on Jan. 4, haven't swept the BIG EAST season series since 2011-12 and have never won at Finneran Pavilion.

Winning Ways Helps MU Back To Top-25

The Golden Eagles have one six of their last seven outings, with the lone loss coming in overtime at nationally ranked Butler on Jan. 24.

As a result, the program made a return to the top-25 rankings this week, checking in at No. 18 in the Associated Press poll and No. 22 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. Marquette's addition places five of the league's 10 programs among the nation's best.

Marquette was ranked a total of 14 times during the 2018-19 campaign, rising to as high as No. 10 in the country for a total of four weeks. MU was last ranked (23/22) in both polls on March 11, 2019.

Bailey, Bench Help MU To Win Over Butler

The Golden Eagles put together one of their most complete performances in the team's win over Butler on Feb. 9, but it was the efforts of sophomore forward Brendan Bailey and the squad's bench unit that stood out the most.

Bailey was named to the BIG EAST Conference Weekly Honor Roll for the first time in his career after finishing with 16 points and eight rebounds in 30 minutes of action, thanks to a 6-of-8 effort from the field overall, including 4-of-5 from long distance.

Led by senior center Jayce Johnson, Marquette's reserves combined to contribute 15 points and 10 rebounds and knocked down 9-of-10 from the charity stripe, including a number of clutch makes down the stretch.