#MUBB Travels To Villanova On New Year's Eve

The Marquette University men's basketball team (10-4, 2-1 BIG EAST) continues BIG EAST Conference play on Saturday afternoon with a 1 p.m. CT New Year's Day matinee matchup at Villanova (7-6, 1-1 BIG EAST). FS1 features the television broadcast, with Scott Graham (play-by-play) and Tarik Turner (analyst) calling the action. Following Saturday's outing, the Golden Eagles will return to the East Coast for a Jan. 3 matchup at St. John's.

Marquette Looking To Reverse Series Trend

Villanova holds a 27-14 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 19 of the last 20 meetings against Marquette, including four matchups as the top-ranked team in the land.

Justin Lewis' 3-pointer with 11.9 seconds left proved to be the difference in a 57-54 win at Villanova on Jan. 19, the program's first-ever victory at Finneran Pavilion. Lewis led the way again with 19 points in an 83-73 win at home on Feb. 2, 2022 and guard Tyler Kolek chipped in a then Marquette-best 18 points.

MU swept the season series with the Wildcats for the first time since the 2011-12 campaign. Only two other programs, Creighton (2013-14) and Butler (2016-17), had accomplished that feat since the league re-organized in 2013-14.

Ighodaro, Sean Jones Spark Team In SHU Win

Forward Oso Ighodaro collected his third double-double of the campaign in the win over Seton Hall, finishing with 16 points and 10 rebounds in 30 minutes.

The Chandler, Arizona, native now owns four-career double-doubles (two in last four games) and in the last five outings is averaging 14.6 points and 8.8 rebounds per game while shooting 76.7 percent (33-of-43) from the field.

Freshman Sean Jones, who make six treys in the first 13 games, knocked down a trio of 3-pointers (nine-straight points for MU) and finished with nine points.

Marquette Players Learning On The Job

Marquette is fourth-least experienced power six team in the country according to KenPom and least experienced in the BIG EAST.

Only one scholarship player, Oso Ighodaro, has played more than two seasons at Marquette and everyone on the roster has at least two more years of eligibility.

MU's youth hasn't kept the team from competing with the best in the country, however. The Golden Eagles own a win over then No. 6 Baylor and three (#1 Purdue, #15 Wisconsin and #21 Mississippi State) of the squad's four losses (two in overtime) have come against programs currently ranked in the top-25.

Through games of Dec. 28, the combined record of the team's responsible for Marquette's four setbacks this season is 42-7.