Big East Game Thread: RV Marquette Golden Eagles at Villanova Wildcats

THE VITALS: RV Marquette Golden Eagles (10-4, 2-1 Big East) at Villanova Wildcats (7-6, 1-1 Big East)

THE DATE: Saturday, December 31, 2022

THE TIME: 1pm Central

THE LOCATION: Finneran Pavilion, Villanova, Pennsylvania

THE TELEVISION: FS1, with Scott Graham and Tarik Turner on the call.

THE STREAMING: FoxSports.com/live or the Fox Sports app

THE RADIO: 94.5 ESPN Milwaukee, available online at Wisconsin On Demand

THE LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast

THE LINE: Nothing yet from our friends at Draft Kings.

THE PROJECTION: KenPom.com gives Marquette a 50% chance of victory, but picks the Golden Eagles to lose, 75-74.

THE EXCITEMENT LEVEL: KenPom.com gives this game a Thrill Score of 71.7, making it the third most potentially exciting game out of the 114 Division 1 contests scheduled for the day. #1? Connecticut at Xavier.

MARQUETTE PROBABLE LINEUP

• Tyler Kolek (9.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 7.5 apg, 1.8 spg)
• Stevie Mitchell (6.1 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.2 spg)
• Kam Jones (16.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.4 spg)
• Olivier-Maxence Prosper (14.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg)
• Oso Ighodaro (11.9 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.0 spg, 1.8 bpg)

VILLANOVA PROBABLE LINEUP

• Mark Armstrong (5.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg)
• Chris Arcidiacono (5.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.7 apg)
• Caleb Daniels (15.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.4 apg)
• Brandon Slater (11.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.0 spg)
• Eric Dixon (16.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.6 apg)

VILLANOVA LINEUP NOTE: You might be asking where top 25 freshman Cam Whitmore is. After missing Nova’s first seven games due to a preseason injury, Whitmore has come off the bench for the last five contests. He averages nearly 22 minutes a night, and is chipping in 12.4 points, a team high 6.2 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game.