No. 14/12 #MUBB Hosts Villanova Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. CT

The No. 14/12 Marquette University men's basketball team (17-5, 9-2 BIG EAST) opens a two-game homestand Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m. CT when the squad hosts Villanova (10-11, 4-6 BIG EAST) at Fiserv Forum. FS1 features the television broadcast, with Lisa Byington (play-by-play) and Stephen Bardo (analyst) calling the action. Following Wednesday's outing, the Golden Eagles will host Butler on Feb. 4 on the university's annual National Marquette Day celebration.

Marquette Looking To Reverse Series Trend

Villanova holds a 27-15 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 21 meetings against Marquette, including four matchups as the top-ranked team in the land.

Marquette hung on for a 68-66 win on Dec. 31 at Finneran Pavilion, surviving a game-tying shot attempt in the closing seconds. Pennsylvania native Stevie Mitchell netted a career-high 19 points in the victory and Kam Jones added 14 points.

Last year, 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.

MU Exceeding Expectations Entering February

Picked to finish ninth in the preseason coaches poll and without a player on the all-conference roster, the Golden Eagles enter February in a share of first place with Providence and Xavier with a 9-2 record and are the league's top-ranked squad in the Associated Press poll.

No. 14/12 Marquette, off to its best league start since 2018-19 (12-2), is in possession of its highest ranking since it was 10th on Feb. 25, 2019. MU is 3-1 against top-25 opponents and has already surpassed last year's total of four road victories with five, the most recent coming Saturday afternoon at DePaul.