Marquette @ DePaul preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 1, 2020 ) DePaul 72, Marquette 76

Marquette has a chance to build confidence prior to the start of the Big East Tournament as it faces the two worst teams in the conference, beginning Tuesday at DePaul. The Golden Eagles have dropped four of their last five games, including a Senior Night defeat Saturday against No. 7 Seton Hall, but they should get right against the Blue Demons, who they have owned of late.

It is fair to wonder if the Golden Eagles have what it takes to beat the best teams in their conference and beyond. Despite the presence of one the nation's top players in senior guard Markus Howard, who is 25th on the NCAA career scoring list, Marquette has gone 0-3 against Seton Hall, No. 14 Creighton and Providence while splitting with No. 12 Villanova and Butler. "We can do better and we can be better, but a lot of that had to do with Seton Hall," Golden Eagles coach Steve Wojciechowski, whose team also fell to No. 9 Maryland and Wisconsin this season out of conference, told the media. "I am not sure there is anybody in the country that would have beaten them (Seton Hall) today." The Blue Demons have found a lot of different ways to lose in the Big East this season, but Saturday's defeat at Butler may have been the worst of them all as they mustered only 42 points without the services of junior forward Paul Reed.

TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: Fox Sports 1

ABOUT MARQUETTE (18-10, 8-8 Big East): Howard stands at 2,700 career points and if he hits his average of 27.6 points against DePaul, he will pass the likes of Northeastern's Reggie Lewis (2,708) and Hank Gathers, who scored 2,723 points for USC and Loyola Marymount. Beyond them is Duke's J.J. Redick (2,769) and Tennessee's Allan Houston (2,801) in 20th and 19th place, respectively, and Indiana State's Larry Bird (2,850) in 16th place. Howard needs seven 3-pointers to reach the top 10 in NCAA history as he has 424 triples, behind a threesome of Santa Clara's Kevin Foster, Montana State's Tyler Hall and Tennessee's Chris Lofton, who are tied for eighth place with 431.

ABOUT DEPAUL (14-15, 2-14): The 42 points against Butler were the fewest for DePaul since scoring 40 against Georgetown in 2009 and tied for its seventh-fewest in the shot clock era, which began in 1985. Reed missed the game with a hip pointer, taking 14.9 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game out of the equation and leaving the Blue Demons to give sophomore Darious Hall his first start in a DePaul uniform. The 6-7 forward, who played at Arkansas last season, was about as good as the regular starters, who combined for 25 points and 11 turnovers.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Theo John has at least one block in each of the last 10 games and 24 overall during that span to bring his career total to 150 rejections, good for fifth in Marquette history.

2. Jayce Johnson has consecutive double-digit rebound games for the first time with Marquette, including a season-high 12 boards in a starting role against Seton Hall.

3. The Golden Eagles have taken eight of the last nine meetings and have a winning record (32-31) in Chicago.

PREDICTION: Marquette 90, DePaul 68