#MUBB Travels To Illinois For Gavitt Tip-Off Games

The No. 4/5 Marquette University men's basketball team (2-0, 0-0 BIG EAST) opens up the road portion of its 2023-24 campaign when the squad travels to No. 23/23 Illinois (2-0, 0-0 Big Ten) for a 7 p.m. CT matchup on Tuesday, Nov. 14 in the Gavitt Tip-Off Games. FS1 features the television coverage, with Jason Benetti (play-by-play) and Jim Jackson (analyst) calling the action. Following Tuesday's outing, the Golden Eagles' travel party will depart Friday afternoon for the Allstate Maui Invitational (Nov. 20-22), which features five nationally ranked programs in the eight-team field.

Gavitt Tip-Off Games Honor BIG EAST Legend

The Gavitt Tip-Off Games is a unique early-season series played between the two conferences and named in honor of Hall of Famer Dave Gavitt, founder of the BIG EAST and basketball visionary. Gavitt had a profound and lasting influence on the sport of basketball at the collegiate, professional and Olympic levels. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

This season's eight games, played Nov. 13-17, will mark the eighth year of the series.

MU Makes First Trip To Illinois Since 1992

MU and Illinois have met a total of 15 times in the all-time series history, with the Fighting Illini owning a 9-6 advantage overall.

The series dates back to the 1940-41 campaign, with Illinois earning wins in each of the first five matchups. The Golden Eagles have claimed four of the last five, including a pair of decisions when Illinois was ranked in the top-25.

Tyler Kolek's steal and basket with 18 seconds left proved to be the difference in a 67-66 win over No. 10/10 Illinois on Nov. 15, 2021 at Fiserv Forum in the most recent meeting. Guard Darryl Morsell led three players in double figures with 21 points and Kolek finished with 12 points, five assists and five steals.

MU's Top-5 AP Ranking First Since 1977-78

Marquette moved up to No. 4 in the latest Associated Press poll following a pair of wins, its highest ranking since the 1977-78 season.

MU was ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation the season after the program's lone national championship and held each of the top five spots at some point late in the year. The team's most recent result as the fourth-ranked team in the land was a 95-81 win over UNLV on Jan. 15, 1978.

MU's preseason No. 5 ranking in the AP Top-25 was its highest since 1977-78 as well. The Golden Eagles were last ranked (17th) in the preseason prior to the 2013-14 campaign and after moving into the top-25 in week seven in 2022-23, climbed to as high as sixth in the country.

Kam Jones Earns BIG EAST Weekly Honors

Junior guard Kam Jones' offensive efforts in the first two games have been both potent and efficient, resulting in his third-career BIG EAST Player of the Week honor.

In the opening two victories, he averaged 21.5 points per game in just 24 minutes per contest. He combined to shoot 56.0 percent (14-of-25) from the floor overall and 8-of-16 (50.0 percent) from behind the 3-point line.

In the win over Rider, he also found time to chip in six boards (tied career high), four assists and four steals.

Jones has also done a good job getting to the free throw line in the first two games, averaging four attempts per night. In his first 67 career outings, he went to the line just 1.3 times per contest.