MU confident heading into clash with Villanova

The last time Marquette squared off against Villanova, the Golden Eagles played one of their worst games of the season. Coming off a demoralizing loss at Seton Hall, head coach Steve Wojciechowski called his team "noncompetitive" following a 12-point loss on Jan. 7 at the Wells Fargo Center that wasn't as close as the final score.

When the two teams meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, the reigning champion Wildcats will again be the No. 1 team in the nation according to Monday's Associated Press poll (No. 2 in the USA Today Coaches Poll), but the Golden Eagles expect a different performance from themselves.

With a victory at No. 7 Creighton on Saturday, Marquette's team morale is as high as it has been this season. The Golden Eagles (13-6, 4-3 Big East) didn't just keep things close on the road like they did against Seton Hall or play well for a half against a ranked opponent like they did against Wisconsin and Butler. They took the lead early, built it up, sustained it and held onto it to beat the nationally ranked Bluejays on their home floor in front of a hostile sellout crowd.

"I think our team gained some confidence from being able to go against an outstanding team in a tough venue and leaving there with a win," Wojciechowski said.

Confidence can be a powerful weapon, but Marquette's going to need to combine that with its best possible game to beat Villanova (19-1, 7-1). The Golden Eagles are facing another top-10 team, but the Wildcats aren't going to be shorthanded like the Bluejays were without senior point guard Maurice Watson Jr.

Led by senior guard Josh Hart, one of the current favorites for national player of the year, Villanova has been dominant since suffering its lone loss of the season at Butler on Jan. 4.

Over Villanova's past five games, beginning with its commanding 93-81 win over Marquette in which it led by as many as 30, the Wildcats have won by an average of 18 points per game.

"They're really good," Wojciechowski said. "They put you on so many binds on both ends of the floor. ... I didn't think we played as hard as we could possibly play when we were in Philadelphia. I don't know if we play our butts off for 40 minutes if that's going to translate into a win, but we can play a lot harder than we did in Philadelphia."

As Marquette showed on Saturday in dropping 102 points on Creighton in regulation, it has the offensive firepower to hang with any team in the country. The Golden Eagles rank third in the nation in three-point percentage at 41.7% and have scored the most points in conference games at 82.4 per contest. It took a late barrage of three-pointers when the game was already decided, but Marquette remains the only team to score 80-plus points on Villanova in 20 games.

Marquette was able to outscore Creighton in a fast-paced game Saturday, but it will likely have more trouble doing so against Villanova's aggressive defense and grinding, slow-tempo style of play. The Wildcats don't put up point totals as high as the Golden Eagles or Bluejays, but they own a top-five raw offensive efficiency rating per kenpom.com (Marquette ranks 11th) combined with a defense that has allowed a league-low 63.4 points per game in conference play, with no other team holding opponents under 70.

That difference in style means there will likely be fewer possessions on Tuesday, putting defensive stops at a premium. Marquette has struggled to string those together with consistency. There have been strides, but they've been limited as the Golden Eagles have counterbalanced their league-high offensive efficiency (1.183 points per possession) in conference play with the Big East's least efficient defense (1.136).

"With our group we've had to integrate a lot of new faces, so guys are playing huge roles for us who a year ago weren't on our team or were ineligible to play," Wojciechowski said. "I think we've gotten better as the year has gone on. Hopefully as we approach here the midway point of the Big East we can continue to play well."

Marquette's players know the challenges Villanova poses from seeing them up close. On Tuesday, the Golden Eagles will become the first Big East team to take on the Wildcats a second time and will have the opportunity to demonstrate improvement.

This time, they're confident and believe they're prepared to make a bigger splash than Saturday's upset.

"I think we were scared," senior center Luke Fischer said of the first meeting with Villanova. "(Tuesday) night when the ball goes up, we know that we can play with the best teams and I think we're ready. We learned from our mistakes and we want to get out there."

Matt Velazquez can be reached at mvelazquez@journalsentinel.com and twitter.com/Matt_Velazquez.