Marquette Golden Eagles (11-5, 2-1 BIG EAST) vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-2, 3-1 BIG EAST) he Marquette University men’s basketball team (11-5, 2-1 BIG EAST) MU SCOREBOARD T returns to the Bradley Center Monday night to host No. 14/15 Notre DATE OPPONENT RESULT/TIME Dame at 6 p.m. CT. ESPN2 will feature the matchup as part of its “Big Nov. 12 vs. Prairie View A&M W, 97-58 Monday” broadcast, with Dave Pasch (play-by-play), Jay Bilas (analyst) and Nov. 14 vs. Bucknell W, 72-61 Bill Raftery (analyst) calling the action from courtside. Monday’s meeting will be the 114th all-time meeting between Marquette and Notre Dame in a series Nov. 17 vs. Green Bay W, 89-69 that dates back to the 1919-20 campaign. Following the contest against the Nov. 20 vs. South Dakota W, 82-69 Fighting Irish, MU hits the road to face Louisville on Jan. 15. O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic Nov. 22 1/1 vs. Duke L, 82-77 Strength Of Schedule To Receive Upgrade Nov. 23 vs. Gonzaga L, 66-63 In possession of three contests (vs. Duke, vs. Gonzaga, at Vanderbilt) in Nov. 27 at Milwaukee W, 75-72 non-league play this season against programs ranked in the top-25 at the time Dec. 4 vs. Longwood W, 96-65 of the matchup, the Golden Eagles will see that total multiply quickly in the Dec. 7 vs. A&M-Corpus Christi W, 86-50 coming weeks. Dec. 11 vs. Wisconsin L, 69-64 Beginning with the trip to Pittsburgh, seven of the team’s eight conference Dec. 18 vs. Centenary W, 81-52 matchups will come against programs currently ranked in at least one of the Dec. 21 vs. Mississippi Valley St. W, 102-77 national polls. That span includes four outings versus top-10 squads and a Dec. 29 22/24 at Vanderbilt L, 77-76 total of four contests on the road against top-25 opponents. Jan. 1 vs. West Virginia * W, 79-74 The Golden Eagles remain in search of the program’s 100th victory against Jan. 5 at Rutgers * W, 73-65 a top-25 program. MU is 99-151 all-time versus nationally ranked squads and Jan. 8 5/5 at Pittsburgh * L, 89-81 7-18 under third-year head coach Buzz Williams. Jan. 10 14/15 vs. Notre Dame * 6 p.m. Based on the most recent Jan. 3 polls, 10 of Marquette’s 16 league games will feature a top-25 squad. Jan. 15 rv/23 at Louisville * 10 a.m. Jan. 18 vs. DePaul * 8 p.m. DATE: January 10, 2011 Jan. 22 14/15 at Notre Dame * 6 p.m. TIP-OFF: 6 p.m. CT Jan. 25 8/9 vs. Connecticut * 8 p.m. LOCATION: Bradley Center (18,600) - Milwaukee, Wis. Jan. 29 4/4 vs. Syracuse * 2 p.m. TELEVISION: ESPN2 features the “Big Monday” broadcast, with Dave Feb. 2 7/7 at Villanova * 6 p.m. Pasch (play-by-play), Jay Bilas (analyst) and Bill Raftery (analyst) calling the Feb. 9 at USF * 6 p.m. action in MU’s sixth national broadcast of the season. Feb. 13 13/13 at Georgetown * 12 p.m. RADIO: 540 ESPN is the flagship station for the Marquette Radio Network. Feb. 15 vs. St. John’s * 8 p.m. Steve “The Homer” True (play-by-play) and Jim McIlvaine (analyst) will call Feb. 19 vs. Seton Hall * 8 p.m. the action. MU’S LAST TIME OUT: The Golden Eagles dropped an 89-81 decison at Feb. 24 8/9 at Connecticut * 6 p.m. No. 5/5 Pittsburgh Saturday. Four starters finished with double figures in Feb. 27 vs. Providence * 3 p.m. points, led by Darius Johnson-Odom’s 20. Mar. 2 24/25 vs. Cincinnati * 7 p.m. ND’S LAST TIME OUT: The Fighting Irish led by as many as 25 points in a Mar. 5 at Seton Hall * 5 p.m. 76-61 victory over St. John’s. Guard Ben Hansbrough led all scorers with Mar.8-12 BIG EAST Championship TBA 26 points and Notre Dame shot 51.0 percent from the floor. SERIES HISTORY: Notre Dame leads 78-35 * - indicates BIG EAST Conference game LAST MEETING: UND 63, MU 60 (OT) - March 6, 2010 All game times CT subject to change. MU CONTACT INFO: Scott Kuykendall handles all of the media relations duties for the Marquette men’s basketball program and can be reached at 414.288.4794 [w]/414.807.3490 [c] or [email protected]. WEB SITE: GoMarquette.com ND CONTACT INFO: Bernadette Cafarelli handles the media relations duties for ND and can be reached at [email protected] or 574-631-7516. WEB SITE: UND.com Marquette Game Notes Page 2 MEDIA SERVICES Marquette-Notre Dame Series Spans Program’s Duration ASSOC. AD/MBB SID: . Scott Kuykendall Monday night’s matchup with No. 14/15 Notre Dame will mark the 114th meeting Email: . [email protected] between the two teams in a series that dates back to the 1919-20 campaign. Work Phone: . 414-288-4794 Marquette claimed the first meeting, earning a 23-22 road victory in the program’s third Cell Phone: . 414-807-3490 season of competition. MU will face the Fighting Irish as a nationally ranked opponent for DIR. of MEDIA RELATIONS: Luke LeNoble the 18th time on Monday, with the Golden Eagles owning an 8-9 record in those contests. Email: . [email protected] Marquette has claimed five of the eight meetings since the team joined the BIG EAST Work Phone: . 414-288-6980 Conference in 2005-06. Cell Phone: . 414-313-2238 Rival Wisconsin is the only opponent Marquette has face on more occasions (117) than Website:. GoMarquette.com Notre Dame. Fax: . 414-288-6519 Johnson-Odom Picks Up Scoring In League Play CREDENTIALS Struggling with his perimeter shot for a majority of the non-conference campaign, jun- Credential requests are now available ior Darius Johnson-Odom has picked up his offensive production in recent weeks. online by visiting http://www.sportssys- That trend has magnified itself through the first three BIG EAST games this season. The tems.com/Marquette/. Raleigh, N.C., native is averaging a team-best 23.3 points per game in the last three out- Requests will be confirmed or denied ings. He is shooting 53.2 percent (25-of-47) from the field and 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from via email and may be picked up at the behind the 3-point line. He has also found time to chip in 3.0 assists and 2.3 rebounds in an arena control entrance of the Bradley average of 33.3 minutes per contest. Center on game day (beginning two Through games of Jan. 8, Johnson-Odom ranks tied for third in scoring in league games hours before tip). and is seventh in 3-pointers made per game (2.67). Please contact Scott Kuykendall with any questions. MU Protects The Ball At Pittsburgh PARKING Against one of the better defensive units in the BIG EAST, Marquette was forced into Parking is NOT available to home and just a pair of turnovers at Pittsburgh Saturday afternoon. visiting members of the media. There are The first miscue didn’t occur until almost midway through the second half. Thanks to several parking structures available 16 assists on 27 baskets, the squad’s assist-to-turnover ratio (1.45) is now 11th in the nation within walking distance of the Bradley and fourth in the league. Center. The two miscues marked the lowest single-game total since turning it over on just three occasions in a 70-68 victory at Connecticut in 2009-10. Prior to the UConn contest, the last INTERVIEW POLICY time MU finished with less than three turnovers (1 total) came in a 90-70 win over Butler on Please contact Scott Kuykendall to March 3, 1990. Former MU standout Tony Smith had 43 points in that contest. arrange an interview with Marquette head coach Buzz Williams, a member of Starters Looking For Bench Help In BIG EAST Action the coaching staff or a player. Marquette’s offense enjoyed a tremendous amount of suc- MU players will not disclose their cess during the non-conference portion of the schedule Bench Play home phone numbers or their cellular thanks in large part to consistent across-the-board production BIG EAST NonC phone numbers so please do not request from the Golden Eagle reserves. PPG 9.7 29.2 that information. Players have been Unfortunately for MU, that trend hasn’t continued through RPG 11.0 17.4 asked to politely decline interviews that three games of league play. The bench corps have yet to fea- FG Pct. 31.3 51.5 have not been cleared with the MU ture a player with double figures in points and the five-player FT Pct. 50.0 64.8 Media Relations Office. All telephone group has combined to shoot just 31.3 percent (10-of-32) from interviews will take place from either the the field and 7-of-14 (50 percent) from the charity stripe. As a result, the starting five is cur- Media Relations Office or the Men’s rently accounting for 87.5 percent of the offense in BIG EAST competition. Basketball Office. Player interviews will One reason for the production dropoff has been the move to the starting lineup by jun- not be conducted on gamedays until ior forward Jae Crowder, who has started each of the last six games.