2017 Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals

#4 Marquette Golden Eagles (19-11) vs #5 Seton Hall Pirates (20-10)

When: Thursday, March 9, 2017, at 1:30pm Central
Where: Madison Square Garden in New York, NY
Television: FS1
Streaming: Fox Sports Go
Radio: 540 ESPN Milwaukee
Live Stats: GameTracker

Marquette Stat Leaders

Points: Markus Howard, 13.1 ppg
Rebounds: Luke Fischer, 5.9 rpg
Assists: Jajuan Johnson, 2.7 apg

Seton Hall Stat Leaders

Points: Khadeen Carrington, 17.0ppg
Rebounds: Angel Delgado, 13.1 ppg
Assists: Madison Jones, 3.3 apg

Current KenPom Rankings

Marquette: #28
Seton Hall: #54
KenPom Projection: Marquette has a 62% chance of victory with a predicted score of 79-75.

What’s At Stake: First and foremost, a spot in the Big East semifinals is on the line. The winner of this game will advance to Friday’s semifinals where they’ll take on the winner of the Villanova/St. John’s game. While Marquette has never missed the Big East quarterfinals as a member of both iterations of the conference, they have not won in the quarterfinals since 2010, when Lazar Hayward was a senior.

Past that, both Marquette and Seton Hall would like to do a little bit of polishing to their postseason resume. As of a late Wednesday night update, both the Golden Eagles and the Pirates appear in 134 of 135 brackets on Bracket Matrix. Marquette averages out as the best 10 seed in the field, while Seton Hall is trailing along one spot behind them. There’s eight teams in between SHU and the at-large cut line, but it’s better to be safe and add one more quality win, than sorry by taking a loss in your first conference tournament game and get left out as a result.

Marquette Last 10 Games: 5-5 with wins in four of their last five.

Seton Hall Last 10 Games: 7-3 with wins in their last four games.

All Time Series: Marquette has a 16-6 advantage.

Current Streak: Marquette’s overtime victory earlier this season snapped a three game losing streak for the Golden Eagles.

Jajuan Johnson Watch: With two steals against Creighton, the senior from Memphis now has 57 swipes on the season, the seventh most by a Marquette senior. Up next is Dominic James’ mark of 62. Johnson’s 349 points this season have him sitting on 991 career points, so he may become Marquette’s 47th 1,000 point scorer at some point in this game.

Luke Fischer Watch: Fischer is currently tied with Chris Otule for the 4th most swats in program history with 147. I don’t think he’ll catch Faisal Abraham in third place with 172, though. Fischer’s 47 swats on the season has him ranked #4 all time in blocks for seniors, however there’s a big gap until third place and Amal McCaskill with 55. Fischer’s climb to 1,000 points in his Marquette career continues as his 335 points this season have gotten him up to 999. Either Fischer or Jajuan Johnson is going to become Marquette’s 46th 1,000 point scorer, and obviously the Germantown native has the advantage here.

Markus Howard Watch: The freshman from Arizona extended his freshman record for made three-pointers to 76. That’s the eighth most in a season by any Marquette player, passing Robb Logterman with 75. Darius Johnson-Odom’s 77 in 2011-12 is at risk today, and I suppose Matt Carlino’s 83 isn’t out of the question. Howard now has 138 three-point attempts on the season, which is tied with Duane Wilson for the third most by a freshman. With 128 field goals on the year, Howard has gone flying past Duane Wilson and Russ Wittberger for the 9th most by a freshman, and he needs three more to tie Haanif Cheatham for eighth. Howard is up to 381 points on the season, which gives him the sixth most by a Marquette freshman, passing Bo Ellis with 378 and Duane Wilson with 380. Damon Key (383) and Haanif Cheatham (391) better watch out.

Sam Hauser Watch: Hey, remember when Hauser was neck and neck with Howard on the freshman three-pointer chart? Good times. With 59 made threes, Hauser only trails wherever Howard’s record happens to be at a given moment. Hauser has the 6th most long range attempts by a freshman with 132, and he’s coming up quickly on Dominic James at 136. The Stevens Point native has 19 blocks on the season, tying Charles Luter in sixth place by a freshman. Hauser has moved into the top six for rebounds by a freshman with 154 this season and he might be able to catch Odartey Blankson in fifth place with 160 today.

Andrew Rowsey Watch: The transfer from UNC Asheville now has 65 made threes on the season, tying him with Mark Anglavar and Aaron Hutchins for the fourth most by a MU junior. Rowsey needs six more to catch Darius Johnson-Odom in third place, which seems doable against Seton Hall. His 143 attempts this season are tied with John Cliff for ninth most by a junior, and two more will tie him with Jerel McNeal for eighth. Five attempts against the Pirates would catch him up to Lazar Hayward in seventh.

Follow Along On Twitter

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