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Villanova at Marquette preview

Saturday, 2 p.m., BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee TV/Radio: Fox29; WTEL-AM (610). Records: No. 1 Villanova, 24-4, 13-2 Big East; Marquette, 18-10, 7-8.

Saturday, 2 p.m., BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee

TV/Radio: Fox29; WTEL-AM (610).

Records: No. 1 Villanova, 24-4, 13-2 Big East; Marquette, 18-10, 7-8.

On Marquette: The Golden Eagles picked up an impressive 66-61 win Wednesday night at Creighton behind freshman Henry Ellenson (22 points, 10 rebounds) and a defense that held the Bluejays to 3-of-21 shooting from the three-point line.

On Villanova: The Wildcats played one of their poorer games on defense, in the paint and under the boards, giving up a season high for points in a 90-83 loss to No. 5 Xavier in Cincinnati.

Insights

In the teams' first meeting on Jan. 13 at the Pavilion, Villanova trailed by one point at halftime before establishing control in the second half and grabbing an 83-68 win behind 20 points from Kris Jenkins. . . . The Golden Eagles have shown vast improvement in their second year under coach Steve Wojciechowski, having topped their 13-win total of last season on Jan. 27. . . . They lead the Big East in steals (7.7 per game) but turn it over an average of 15.1 times per game, second-worst in the league. . . . The Wildcats gave up a season-high 44 points in the paint against the Musketeers and that doesn't bode well for Saturday because Marquette likes to play two big men - the 6-foot-10 Ellenson and 6-11 Luke Fischer - at the same time. Look for 6-11 starting center Daniel Ochefu and 6-8 backup Darryl Reynolds to be on the floor together at times. . . . Ellenson has emerged as the best freshman in the Big East, averaging 16.7 points (third in the conference) and 10.0 rebounds (first). - Joe Juliano

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