Taking care of Seton Hall and Georgetown was enough to bump the Golden Eagles up in both polls this week. Buzz Williams’s team is now #8 in the AP Top 25 and #10 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. The other prominent teams in the BIG EAST remained in the Top 10. Pitt leapfrogged UConn at #1, after defeating them earlier this week. But the Huskies, who roll into the Bradley Center Wednesday, fell only one spot to #2. Louisville is at #6 and ’Nova is #10/12.

Marquette went on the road and swept the season series with the Hoyas.

GoMarquette recap
Box Score

With the team doing as well as they are, and Lazar dominating as much as he has, we decided to relaunch the MUTV Commercial, featuring the newest 1000-point club member.

It was a night of milestones at the Bradley Center, as the Marquette Golden Eagles defeated the Seton Hall Pirates 79-67. Jerel McNeal became the all-time steals leader in school history, with his 274th overall theft. In the second half Wes Matthews drained his 496th free throw to become the all-time leader in free throws made in school history. “I feel like I’ve been in a little slump lately, I still missed three tonight, but it’s a great feeling. That’s a lot of points off the charity stripe.” Wes ended the night with a game-high 24 points shooting 7-12 from the field and 9-12 from the line.

Trailing hot-shooting Seton Hall by three points coming out of halftime, the Golden Eagles went on a 16-3 run over the first 4:49 of the second half to take a 50-40 lead. Wes poured in six and McNeal chipped in five during the stretch, with Matthews’s fast-break dunk off a Pirates turnover at the 15:11 mark forcing Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez to call a timeout. “We knew they were going to make a run,” Gonzalez said. “I warned them at halftime, but I think it came a little quicker than our guys expected.”

Jimmy Butler continued his consistent play and showed the crowd at the Bradley Center that he has some hops when Wes Matthews threw a half court alley-oop that Butler threw down with two hands. “He threw the ball up there so I just went up to go get it. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t think I was actually going to do it. It was in the area so I knew I could jump. I guess you could say it was a leap of faith.” With 13 points, Dominic James moved past Butch Lee and into third place on MU’s all-time scoring list with 1,740 points. Buzz Williams’s crew will travel to D.C. to take on Georgetown Saturday. With relation to the five-game stretch of tremendously tough games, Dominic James said in the locker room, “Here comes the Gauntlet.”

Tip is set for 1 P.M. Saturday, and Marqette Radio’s Matt Montgomery and Robbie Shimp will be there with the call on marquetteradio.mu.edu.

Todd Warner
MUTV Sports

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

MUTV Assistant Sports Director Brad Galli reports from the Bradley Center after the Golden Eagles defeat St. John’s, 73-59, on February 14, 2009.

Despite losing to Villanova last Tuesday, Marquette managed to stay at #10 in the AP Top 25, and jumped from #12 to #11 in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 Poll. The AP rankings feature four BIG EAST teams in the Top 10. The Golden Eagles put their ranking to the test Tuesday against Seton Hall.

AP Top 25 (as of Monday, Feb. 16)
1. Connecticut (66) 24-1 1,794
2. Oklahoma (4) 25-1 1,709
3. North Carolina (2) 23-2 1,676
4. Pittsburgh 23-2 1,589
5. Memphis 22-3 1,465
6. Michigan State 20-4 1,443
7. Louisville 19-5 1,280
8. Wake Forest 19-4 1,217
9. Duke 20-5 1,048
10. MARQUETTE 21-4 1,045
11. Missouri 22-4 1,041
12. Villanova 20-5 983
13. Clemson 20-4 939
14. Arizona State 20-5 830
15. Kansas 20-5 651
16. Xavier 21-4 646
17. Gonzaga 19-5 599
18. Illinois 21-5 589
19. Purdue 19-6 582
20. UCLA 19-6 473
21. Butler 22-3 373
22. Washington 19-6 334
23. LSU 21-4 294
24. Syracuse 19-7 207
25. Dayton 23-3 194

ESPN/USA Today Poll  (as of Monday, Feb. 16)
1. Connecticut (30) 24-1 774
2. Oklahoma (1) 25-1 739
3. North Carolina 23-2 711
4. Pittsburgh 23-2 689
5. Michigan State 20-4 634
6. Memphis 22-3 618
7. Louisville 19-5 508
8. Wake Forest 19-4 489
9. Duke 20-5 468
10. Missouri 22-4 429
11. MARQUETTE 21-4 409
11. Arizona State 20-5 409
13. Clemson 20-4 393
14. Villanova 20-5 377
15. UCLA 19-6 324
16. Illinois 21-5 294
17. Xavier 21-4 278
18. Kansas 20-5 268
19. Washington 19-6 224
20. Gonzaga 19-5 191
21. Purdue 19-6 176
22. Butler 22-3 162
23. Utah State 24-2 121
24. LSU 21-4 114
25. Syracuse 19-7 74

The FaceOff guys have handed out their “Marquette Big Ups of the Week” on Thursday, 2/12 and now it’s time for you to vote on the winner. Check out the video to see what our guys thought were the biggest highlights in Marquette Sports this week. Then vote on your favorite!

MILWAUKEE–The Golden Eagles used a second half offensive explosion led by Erin Monfre and Krystal Ellis to beat the West Virginia Mountaineers 79-59 and snap their two game losing streak.

The Golden Eagles were led by a resurgent Krystal Ellis, who cam off the bench and contributed 25 points. However, the story of the game was senior Erin Monfre who scored a career high 21 points on 7-9 shooting from three point range, the 7 three pointers ties a Marquette record.

The first half seemed to be another tough shooting day as the Golden Eagles shot just over 32% from the floor and were a porous 1-6 from three. However, the second half saw Marquette fire on all cylinders as they built up a hefty lead thanks to a 15-3 early in the second half that put Marquette up by 12, the lead would grow to as much as 24. The hot shooting continued as the Golden Eagles shot over 52% from the floor including 9-13 from three in the second half. For the game, Marquette shot 42% from the floor and 52% from three.

The win pushes their conference record closer to .500 as it now stands at 5-6, Marquette is 14-11 overall on the season. Marquette will try to continue their hot shooting on the road as they travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats, tip off is set for 6 PM CT.

Brian Hoffman
MUTV Sports