Marquette vs. Butler: Three things to watch

The second half of the Big East schedule is upon the Marquette men's basketball team.

In other words, it is crunch time for the Golden Eagles' NCAA Tournament résumé.

It starts with Butler at 8 p.m. at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Wednesday night.

The Golden Eagles (13-8, 4-5 Big East) should feel like they have unfinished business with the Bulldogs (15-7, 5-4) after being up, 67-60, with 10:03 remaining at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Jan. 12. Butler blitzed MU the rest of the game and ended up with a 94-83 victory.

Wednesday's game will be televised on FS1 with Jeff Levering and Stephen Bardo and can be heard on AM-540 with Jim McIlvaine and Steve "The Homer" True.

Here are three things to watch:

1. The Kelan conundrum

After the loss in the first matchup, MU coach Steve Wojciechowski ripped his team's defensive effort. The Golden Eagles didn't have an answer for Butler senior forward Kelan Martin, who finished with 37 points. Martin would take Sam Hauser off the dribble when the MU sophomore guarded him and then Martin would back down Greg Elliott into the post if the Golden Eagles freshman was on him. The Golden Eagles will need to find a better strategy for this tough matchup.

2. Markus watch

MU sophomore guard Markus Howard had his lowest-scoring road game in conference play with 14 points against Butler. Howard was scoreless in the first half, partly due to the harassing defense of the Bulldogs' long-armed Kamar Baldwin and the early foul trouble that has plagued Howard throughout the season. If Howard needs any extra motivation, Martin (22.1 points per game) has passed Howard (21.6) in scoring average for Big East games.

3. Hauser's house

Hauser created mismatches on offense in the first matchup. Butler often switched perimeter screens and the MU sophomore took advantage, tying his collegiate high of 30 points. The 17 shots he attempted were his most at MU. Hauser shot only 3 of 8 over the Golden Eagles' last two games (though a hip issue limited his minutes against Xavier). Hauser did have seven rebounds and six assists against Villanova, but MU will likely need him to be more aggressive in looking to score.