The Marquette Golden Eagles take on the Seton Hall Pirates tonight. They will try to stay perfect at home this season, putting their 16 game winning streak at the Bradley Center on the line. Jerel McNeal also looks to record his tenth straight game with scoring at least 20 points. This is the last game before MU starts its gaudy stretch of games versus the powers of the Big East. But not to be taken lightly is Seton Hall. They have won five of their last six and the only blemish was a tough home loss against #1 UConn, 62-54.

McNeal will have a tough time guarding SHU’s Jeremy Hazell. On the season, he is averaging 23 points per game while shooting 43% from beyond the arc. Jerel McNeal is also looking to get into the history books-once again-as he only needs four more steals to become the school’s all time leader in thefts.

MU needs to look out for Duquesne transfer Robert Mitchell; he has been solid in his first year of Big East action, contributing 15 points and eight rebounds per night. Point guard Eugene Harvey chips in with 13 per outing to go along with 5 assists. Paul Gause scores eight per game and leads the Big East in steals.

Jimmy Butler has emerged as MU’s 6th man as he continues his consistent play and actually knocked down a slick jumper against the Red Storm over the weekend. Jimmy brings intangibles off the bench. He’s not the biggest guy on the court, but he still hits the boards hard. He makes plays that don’t show up on the stat sheet that his coaches and teammates take notice of.

Some may see this as a tune up game, but Marquette cannot afford to overlook Seton Hall. Tip-off is set for 7 P.M. Tune into WMUR at marquetteradio.mu.edu for the call.

Todd Warner
MUTV Sports

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Men's Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.