YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles begin post season play tonight at 7pm Central in the first round of the Big East Championship at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. With a regular season record of 4-12, Marquette earned the #14 seed and a first round match up with #11 seed Cincinnati (15-14, 6-10 Big East). The game will be streamed live on the Big East's website and a live audio stream will be provided by GoMarquette.com with Kyle Dlabay calling the action. The winner of the Marquette-Cincinnati game will advance to face #6 seed Rutgers tomorrow at 7pm.
This is the third time that Marquette and Cincinnati have butted heads this season. The Bearcats took both of the regular season contests, winning 64-52 in the Al McGuire Center in the last game that Apiew Ojulu was healthy enough to play in and then winning 60-46 at the Shoemaker Center Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati. Chelsie Butler came off the bench to post her second career double-double in the second game.
Marquette needs multiple wins in the Big East Championship to keep their post season hopes alive with a 13-16 record on the season to this point. Even if they are unable to maintain the program's nine year post season streak, a win or two in the Big East Championship would go a long way towards building confidence amongst the team heading to next year as they have no seniors and will add two new freshmen to the team with next year's recruiting class.
After the jump: The full lineup for today's tournament action!
Big East Championship First Round Games (all streamed on BigEast.tv)
11am Central - #12 Syracuse vs #13 Providence
1pm - #9 South Florida vs #16 Pittsburgh
5pm - #10 Villanova vs #15 Seton Hall
7pm - #11 Cincinnati vs #14 Marquette