Marquette to Take on Seton Hall

Marquette travels to take on Seton Hall in New Jersey tonight, MarquetteHoops.com's Nick Chmurski takes a look at the Pirates.

Marquette (16-6, 6-5 Big East)  vs Seton Hall Pirates (15-9, 5-6 Big East)
Prudential Center – Newark, N.J. – 6:30 p.m. CST

Probable Seton Hall Starting Lineup

G - Jamar Nutter       (6-2 Senior; 10.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg)           

G - Eugene Harvey    (6-0 Sophomore; 14.8 ppg, 4.8 apg)

G - Larry Davis         (6-3 Sophomore; 6.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg)

G/F - Brian Laing      (6-5 Senior; 19.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg)

F/C- John Garcia      (6-9 Sophomore; 6.7 ppg, 7.2 rpg)

Key Substitutes

G - Jeremy Hazell      (6-5 Freshman; 12.1 ppg, 2.3 rpg)

G - Paul Gause*         (5-11 Junior;  7.6 ppg, 2.4 apg)

* Did not play last game

The Pirates are in the middle of a brutal five game conference stretch in which they’ve lost three straight to the likes of Georgetown, Notre Dame, and Villanova. Seton Hall played both Georgetown and Villanova closely and they gave Marquette all they could handle when they met early this year at the Bradley Center. Marquette was able to escape though with a 61-56 win thanks in part to a strong second half performance.

Seton Hall is very much a guard oriented team that will look to take advantage of their speed. The Pirates usually sport a three or four guard line up that can really score the basketball. They are led by senior Brian Lange who is a combo guard/forward that leads the team in both scoring and rebounding. Laing is one of the Big East’s finest players and creates matchup problems for many teams as he can score from the outside but still has the frame to bang down low with the bigs.

Although Laing might be Seton Hall’s best guard, he certainly isn’t the last talented one. Sophomore Eugene Harvey is a quick point guard who is second on the team in scoring. Harvey gets into the lane quite a bit and can set up easy looks for his teammates; he had 18 points against MU earlier this year. Jamar Nutter and Larry Davis are the other two Pirate guards in the starting lineup. These two both have solid jump shots and can bring a deadly perimeter game into play for Seton Hall. Stopping these three and containing Lange is crucial to beating Seton Hall.

Sophomore John Garcia is the biggest interior threat for the Pirates. Garcia is a hard worker who has a big enough frame (265 pounds) to make him a significant presence in the lane. Garcia is a solid defender and good rebounder who chips in offensively where he is needed. 

Off the bench comes the talented freshman Jeremy Hazell. In his rookie season, the lanky guard is third on the team in scoring and provides a great lift off of the bench. The other significant substitute is junior guard Paul Gause. Gause is one of the Pirates’ best defenders and brings instant energy to the court. Gause however, has missed eight games this season (including Seton Hall’s last game and the previous game against Marquette) due to injury so his status for Tuesday is unclear.

Look for Seton Hall to try and use Marquette’s aggressiveness to their advantage by moving the ball quickly and looking to beat the Golden Eagles off of the dribble. The Pirates have proven that they can match up well against Marquette and if their guards play well they could send the Golden Eagles home with a three game losing streak. To win, Marquette must look to use the same energy that they displayed in their impressive comeback at the end of the Notre Dame game to try and shut down Laing and Seton Hall’s other talented guards. The key is defense; if Marquette plays scrappy but controlled defense the Golden Eagles will walk away with a tough road victory.