Marquette Golden Eagles (15-9, 6-6 Big East) at Georgetown Hoyas (13-12, 4-8 Big East)

When: Saturday, February 11, 2017, at 11am Central
Location: Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
Television: Fox
Streaming: Fox Sports Go
Radio: 540 ESPN Milwaukee
Live Stats: GameTracker

Marquette Stat Leaders

Points: Markus Howard, 12.3 ppg
Rebounds: Luke Fischer, 6.4 rpg
Assists: Haanif Cheatham, 2.8 apg

Georgetown Stat Leaders

Points: Rodney Pryor, 18.2 ppg
Rebounds: Rodney Pryor, 5.0 rpg
Assists: L.J. Peak, 3.6 apg

Current KenPom Rankings

Marquette: #35
Georgetown: #56
KenPom Projection: Georgetown has a 54% chance of victory, with a predicted score of 80-79.

Since We Last Met: The entirety of the Big East schedule has transpired. Marquette and Georgetown hooked it up in the Big East opener for both squads, and the Hoyas have gone 4-7 against league foes since then. They opened up 0-4 before beating St. John’s, then dropped two more to make things look pretty dark at the newly opened Thompson Center. They pulled out of the nosedive with an easy home win over Creighton before going into Hinkle Fieldhouse to knock off Butler and then sneaking past DePaul on the road just a few days later. That got them to 4-6 in league action, but they’ve dropped their last two games, one in overtime to Seton Hall, and then on the road against Villanova. The Hoyas made that one interesting late, trimming a 15 point deficit early in the second half down to just three at about the four minute mark, but the Wildcats held them off by 11 at the final horn. Mixed into all of that conference action was a hard fought home win over a lousy Connecticut team.

Tempo Free Fun: Problem #1 for the Golden Eagles this season has been allowing teams to shoot well against them, particularly from long range. This was a problem in the first meeting against Georgetown, where the Hoyas shot 43% from distance, including a 4-of-9 day from Rodney Pryor and a 3-of-5 outing from Marcus Derrickson.

One of the ways Marquette dealt with the Hoya shooting last time was forcing turnovers. Georgetown coughed it up on 22% of their possessions in Milwaukee, with four of their turnovers coming as steals by MU’s Jajuan Johnson. On the whole, GU has not taken very good care of the ball this season, ranking #234 in the country in offensive turnover rate. Marquette should be able to take advantage of this again to lead to quick and easy points.

Rebounding on either end of the court is not a strength for either team. Georgetown did a number on Marquette on their offensive glass in the first meeting, so MU will have to prevent that this time around. Jessie Govan doesn’t have a rep as an offensive rebounder, but he grabbed up four of GU’s misses in that game. Luke Fischer has been doing a great job on the glass over the past few games, getting at least seven rebounds in five of MU’s last six outings. He’ll need to have another good to great outing and get some help as well.

Marquette Last 10 Games: 5-5 with losses in three of the last four games.

Georgetown Last 10 Games: 5-5 with losses in their last two games.

All Time Series: All tied up at 11 wins each.

Current Streak: Marquette has now won two in a row against Georgetown

Jajuan Johnson Watch: The senior from Memphis has tied Kerry Trotter for the 10th most steals by a senior with 47. Tony Miller is ninth with 52 swipes.

Luke Fischer Watch: Fischer racked up four more blocks against Butler and currently ranks 5th on Marquette’s career blocks chart with 140. Chris Otule in 4th place is next up at 145. He’s got 40 on the season now, which is tied with Marcus Jackson and Walter Downing for the fifth most by a senior for Marquette. His next swat ties him with Ousmane Barro for the fourth most, but there’s a big gap until Amal McCaskill with 55. Fischer’s climb to 1,000 points in his Marquette career continues as he’s currently sitting on 954.

Markus Howard Watch: With 55 made three pointers on the season, Howard is now tied with Steve Novak for the second most made triples by a freshman. The record is 57, held by Travis Diener. It’s entirely possible this record falls by the under 16 minute media timeout in the first half. Howard now has 106 attempts on the season, giving him the 8th most by a freshman, and Novak is #7 with 109 with David Cubillan at #6 with 113.

Sam Hauser Watch: With 48 made threes, Hauser is tied for the sixth most made threes by a freshman with David Cubillan, with Duane Wilson (49) right in front of them. Hauser is tied with Howard for eighth most long range attempts by a freshman with 106, and Steve Novak is right ahead of them at 109. The Stevens Point native has 12 blocks on the season, and believe it or not, that has him two away from the 10th most by a MU freshman. Three different players recorded 14 swats as a freshman, but Deonte Burton did it most recently.

Andrew Rowsey Watch: Thanks to his recent shooting explosion , the transfer from UNC Asheville now has 51 made threes on the season, which is the 10th most by a Marquette junior. The previous 10th best total was 50 triples by Brian Wardle, and Dan Fitzgerald is in 9th place with 52. In fact, if Rowsey goes haywire against Georgetown, he could pass a bunch of guys. Lazar Hayward (53) and John Cliff (55) are easily within range for Rowsey, who already has four games this season with at least four made three pointers. He’s on pace to be the most accurate junior three-point shooter in program history, so it’s going to be a while before he gets into the top 10 for three-point attempts.

Follow Along On Twitter

@MarquetteMBB - Official Marquette account
@GeorgetownHoops - Official Georgetown account
@AnonymousEagle - Hey, that's us!
@CasualHoya - SB Nation's Georgetown site
@becb_sbn - SB Nation's Big East site
@Matt_Velazquez - The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel MU beat reporter