No. 22 #MUBB Travels To Seton Hall Wednesday Night

The 22nd-ranked Marquette University men's basketball team (14-6, 6-3 BIG EAST) opens a two-game road swing on Wednesday, Jan 26 at 7:30 p.m. CT when the squad travels to Seton Hall (12-6, 3-5 BIG EAST) to take on the Pirates in the Prudential Center. FS1 features the national television broadcast, with Dave Sims (play-by-play) and Bill Raftery (analyst) calling the action. Following Wednesday's outing, the Golden Eagles will travel to No. 17/17 Providence to conclude the season's home-and-home series.

Series With Seton Hall Dates Back To 1956

The Golden Eagles lead the all-time series with Seton Hall, 20-13, with all but one of the matchups coming after MU joined the BIG EAST Conference in 2005-06.

SHU opened the series with a 96-78 victory over Marquette on March 17, 1956 in MU's first-ever appearance in the National Invitation Tournament in New York. The next meeting wouldn't come until 50 years later when Marquette moved to the BIG EAST.

Marquette claimed a narrow 73-72 victory over the Pirates on Jan. 15 at Fiserv Forum, courtesy of a game-winning free throw by guard Greg Elliott with under two seconds left in regulation. The victory by the Golden Eagles snapped a six-game run by the Pirates in the series. Guard Darryl Morsell led the way offensively, finishing with 26 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor.

Lewis Named BIG EAST Player of the Week

Forward Justin Lewis was tabbed both the BIG EAST Player of the Week and the Naismith Men's Player of the Week on Monday afternoon for his efforts in the team's last two victories.

Lewis led the Golden Eagles to a 57-54 victory at No. 11 Villanova and a 75-64 win against No. 20 Xavier. At Villanova, Lewis' 3-pointer with 11.9 seconds left was the game-winning basket. He scored a team-high 21 points. In the triumph over Xavier, Lewis posted game highs of 20 points and 13 rebounds (fifth double-double of 2021-22). For the two games, he shot 9-of-15 from 3-point range.

The Baltimore native earned Freshman of the Week accolades in December of the 2020-21 season, but Monday's selection was his first as the league's top overall player.

Golden Eagles In Heart Of BIG EAST Slate

Marquette, which has already faced nine nationally ranked squads (four in non-conference action) in 2021-22, is in the midst of a stretch that could feature 6-of-7 outings versus top-25 opponents.

Should Marquette end up playing at least 11 top-25 contests, it would be the most since the team competed in 11 games during the 2010-11 regular season. That year, including postseason (five straight to end the year), the Golden Eagles played 17 total outings versus the nation's best.

MU is 132-210 all-time against top-25 teams, including 49-127 effort against the top-10. The team is 5-4 this year against squads in the national polls, with wins over No. 10/10 Illinois, No. 16/17 Providence, No. 20/18 Seton Hall, No. 11/11 Villanova and No. 20/20 Xavier.

The Golden Eagles have now won six-straight BIG EAST contests for the first time since 2018-19. That season also featured an eight-game league win streak that stretched from Jan. 6-30.

MU Finding Success Against Nation's Best

Through games of Jan. 24, Marquette's five wins against top-25 teams was the best total in the nation. For the first time in school history, MU posted victories over three-straight opponents nationally ranked opponents in regular season play.

As a result, Marquette finds itself No. 22 in this week's Associated Press poll, the team's first ranking since it was 19th on Feb. 17, 2020. That was also the last time the BIG EAST Conference had as many as five teams in the top-25.