Marquette shoots for ninth straight win over Villanova

Following a rough stretch to begin February, No. 16 Marquette appears to have stabilized heading into Friday’s Big East matchup at Villanova.The Golden Eagles (20-6, 11-4 Big East) are trending toward a prominent seed in next month’s NCAA Tournament, though things looked a bit shaky earlier this month when Marquette lost three games in a row to UConn, St. John’s and Creighton.However, the team has bounced back, posting double-digit victories over DePaul and Seton Hall. The 80-56 win over the Pirates was particularly dominant as the Eagles shot 53.6 percent from the floor (and 40.7 percent from 3-point range) while dominating the boards, 37-22.Kam Jones led Marquette with 14 points against Seton Hall, while the Golden Eagles’ reserves combined for 36 points and 18 rebounds.”I thought the guys that came off the bench had a good spirit about them,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. “I had subbed a few guys at different times because I didn’t like a play or two. But I thought the guys that came in had a great energy and willingness to try and make the next play.”The Eagles also suffocated Seton Hall on the defensive end, holding the Pirates to 25 percent 3-point shooting as part of a 36.8 percent shooting effort overall. They bottled up Isaiah Coleman, Seton Hall’s leading scorer, into a 5-of-19 shooting performance.But Marquette’s last two wins came against the bottom two teams in the Big East standings.”Obviously, the competition goes up for us on Friday,” Smart said.Villanova (15-12, 8-8) posted its biggest win of the season last week with a 73-71 victory over then-No. 9 St. John’s. However, the momentum did not carry over to its last two games — road losses at Providence and UConn.The Wildcats squandered a 14-point lead with under 12 minutes remaining in the loss to the Huskies, who closed the game on a 27-6 run to leave Villanova’s players and coaches searching for answers.

Blogs