Big East Tournament Quarterfinals: Marquette Golden Eagles at Villanova Wildcats

Marquette Golden Eagles (12-6, 24-8) at Villanova Wildcats (13-5, 25-6)

Big East Tournament - Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 12 - 2:20 PM EST on ESPN

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Preview

One of the keys to this year's Big East Tournament is the precious double-bye that the top four teams get. Fourth seeded Villanova edged out fifth seeded Marquette down the stretch to earn the extra day on the couch. Marquette lost their final four games of the season to fall out of contention.

But the biggest loss during that stretch was senior guard Dominique James, who suffered a season-ending injury against UConn.

Marquette entered the Big East Tournament on Wednesday after a single-bye, and they proved that they can, in fact, win without James (who was their fourth-highest scorer and lead the team in assists and steals). After holding St. John's to a Big East Tournament record ten points in the first half, the Golden Eagles easily won 74-45.

The Golden Eagles and Wildcats split games this season, both winning on their home courts. Good thing that the third meeting is occurring on a neutral site where a true victor for the season can be crowned. Both teams feature outstanding backcourts with good frontcourts, so this should be another quality Big East game.

By The Numbers

	Record	Conf	ATS	RPI	SOS	PF	PA
Marquette	24-8	12-6	13-13-1	31	48	79.1	70.0
Villanova	25-6	13-5	15-11	14	36	77.3	66.7

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG
Marquette	45.8	45.1	35.0	35.3	71.1	37.6	8.2	15.7	11.7
Villanova	46.1	40.5	36.9	33.1	73.8	40.7	8.0	15.0	13.1

Stat Leaders

	Marquette	Villanova
PPG	J. McNeal - 20.1	D. Cunningham - 16.4
	W. Matthews - 18.5	S. Reynolds - 15.7
	L. Hayward - 16.2	C. Fisher - 10.8
RPG	L. Hayward - 8.5	D. Cunningham - 7.3
APG	J. McNeal - 3.9	S. Reynolds - 3.7
SPG	J. McNeal - 2.1	S. Reynolds - 1.5
BPG	J. McNeal - 0.6	D. Cunningham - 1.3

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Prediction

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