#MUBB Opens BIG EAST Tournament Thursday at 8:30 p.m. CT

The No. 10/10 Marquette University men's basketball team (23-8, 14-6 BIG EAST) opens play at the 2024 BIG EAST Tournament Presented by Jeep on Thursday, March 14 at 8:30 p.m. Central time when the squad faces the Villanova/DePaul winner in the quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden. FS1 features the television broadcast, with Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery calling the action. Marquette earned the No. 3 seed in the 11-team event and a first-round bye into the quarterfinals.

Marquette Set For BIG EAST Tournament

Marquette is set for its 18th BIG EAST Conference Tournament and will be making a trip to at least the quarterfinals for the 17th time.

The Golden Eagles are 15-16 all-time in the BIG EAST Tournament and 27-31 in postseason events since joining a league for the first time in 1989-90. MU has made a total of four trips to the BIG EAST semifinals, including a run to last season's tournament title after three victories in three days. The Golden Eagles defeated St. John's, UConn and Xavier en route to the program's first-ever BIG EAST tourney championship (MU also claimed the regular-season title).

Prior to last season, Marquette's lone league tournament title came in 1996-97 when the team won four games in four days at the Conference USA Championship in St. Louis.

Golden Eagles Prep For Pair Of Opponents

Marquette, which swept the home-and-home series against both Villanova and DePaul this season, will have to wait to see which team is victorious on Wednesday night.

Guard Tyler Kolek led the way offensively against the Wildcats, averaging 26.5 points and 10.0 assists per game in the two outings. Guard Kam Jones scored 22 points in the matchup at Fiserv Forum, but didn't play at Villanova (ankle injury).

Jones (18.5 ppg.) and Joplin (17.5 ppg.) led six players who averaged double figures in the two matchups with DePaul and the Golden Eagles averaged 95.5 points per contest in the wins.

Jones Putting Offense On His Shoulders

Marquette guard Kam Jones has been the team's leading scorer in each of the last three games without guard Tyler Kolek, but prior to that had stepped up his offensive production on the recent homestand.

In his last six games, which includes three games of 30-or-more points, Jones has connected on 58-of-93 (62.4 percent) of his shots from the field overall and 57.1 percent (24-of-42) of his attempts from behind the 3-point line. He has averaged 26.0 points per contest in those outings, along with 3.2 assists and 1.3 steals per outing.

He capped the regular season with 30 points, a career-best nine assists and five rebounds in the win at Xavier on 12-of-17 shooting from the floor. Jones' four 30-point games in league play tied Jayden Epps (Georgetown) for most this year.

In the team's recent three-game homestand (vs. DePaul, Xavier, Providence), he averaged 28.3 points per outing and shot nearly 67.0 percent from the field.