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Slowly but surely, we’ve been piecing together the Marquette men’s basketball non-conference schedule for this coming season. We know that Marquette will host Purdue on November 14. We know that MU will be in the Maui Invitational from November 20-22. We’re pretty sure that Marquette will be visiting Wisconsin on December 9, as that would be the traditional date and the Blue & Gold Fund is having their yearly auction the night before as has become custom for the past few years. There aren’t dates set in stone yet, but we already know that American and Mount St. Mary’s will be visiting the Bradley Center as well.
We knew that Marquette would be hosting Georgia as well for the return date from last year’s 89-79 MU victory down in Athens. I was under the impression that the date was still undetermined or at least still unannounced, but thanks to the quick eye and keen memory of the staff at the Marquette Wire, that’s not the case.
Here is what we know about the #mubb non-conference schedule so far. pic.twitter.com/Wx6WtCJghh
— Marq. Wire Sports (@MUWireSports) May 23, 2017
Saturday, December 2nd, eh? Says who?
Oh, apparently the Athens Banner-Herald says, waaaaaay back in mid-November of 2016.
The Bulldogs game at Marquette will be on Dec. 2, 2017 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, according to an amendment to the game contract signed by the schools that was obtained in an open records request. The two-game contract also includes a visit from Marquette on Dec. 4 this season.
Well, shoutout to open records requests, apparently.
Georgia finished the 2016-17 season with a record of 19-15 overall and 9-9 in the SEC. They qualified for the NIT, but lost at home in the first round to Belmont. The 2017-18 Bulldogs will be a slightly different team than the one we saw last season. J.J. Frazier (18.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists per game; 22/5/7 vs Marquette) was a senior last season, so he’s gone for sure. However, Yante Maten (18.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists per game; 24/6/2 vs MU) is returning after testing the NBA Draft waters without hiring an agent. MU will be a much taller team this coming season, so you’d think that they might be ever so slightly better at defending Maten.