PURDUE BOILERMAKERS VS. MARQUETTE GOLDEN EAGLES

RANKINGS: Purdue (#19 AP, #21 USA TODAY, #16 KenPom) | Marquette (#51 KenPom)

RECORDS: Purdue (2-0) | Marquette (1-0)

TV CHANNEL: FS1

WATCH ONLINE: Fox Sports Go

SPREAD: Purdue opened as a 1-point favorite. The line increased to 4/4.5.

O/U: The total opened at 150.

RECORDS ATS: Purdue (2-0) | Marquette (0-0)

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SERIES HISTORY

Marquette and Purdue have played each other four times in their program’s histories. Purdue has beaten them in each contest. The point differentials have been 16, 18, 13 and 2.

However, they haven’t played since the 1969 NCAA Tournament.

The first matchup took place on January 28, 1950.

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PLAYERS TO WATCH

PURDUE BOILERMAKERS - ISAAC HAAS

Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

It won’t be hard to pick Isaac Haas out of the crowd on Tuesday night in Milwaukee. The 7-footer is one of the best and most skilled big men in the college game. Haas is among the many who are on the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Watch List, and it’s easy to figure out why.

In his career, he’s shot 57.9 percent from the field and averaged 10.0 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. He’s also a stout defender by most metrics and a very good shot-blocker. With Marquette not having many players who can match up defensively against him, Haas could be in for a big game.

MARQUETTE GOLDEN EAGLES - ANDREW ROWSEY

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Andrew Rowsey had a prodigious first effort with Marquette on Friday. Rowsey went 3-8 on 3-pointers, 4-8 on 2-point makes and was 6-7 from the free throw line to get to 23 points. He racked up three steals, five assists and only two turnovers in 26 minutes. All of this while being accounted for on 41.0 percent of MU’s possessions and taking 43.2 percent of their shots.

To put it simply: Rowsey was valuable and integral to Marquette in their 80-59 win over the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers last week. If Marquette is to win against Purdue, they’re going to need everything they can get out of the former UNC Asheville transfer.

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WHAT HAPPENS HERE?

This should be a pretty fun matchup. MU’s offense is plenty capable of doing tremendous things when they’re rolling. They were a bit skittish from deep, but that probably won’t continue for too long. Purdue, meanwhile, is coming off of two terrific performances against woeful SIU Edwardsville and Chicago State, in which they scored over 105 points in each.

Is that primed to continue against Marquette? The Golden Eagles defense looked very sharp against Mount St. Mary’s. Before you say, “Well, it’s The Mount,” consider the following: Marquette only allowed ≤ 60 points 4 times last season (Howard on Nov. 14, Western Carolina on Nov. 30, SIU Edwardsville on Dec. 21 and DePaul on Jan. 14). They gave up 79 points apiece to IUPUI and Houston Baptist last year, so letting mid-majors gang up on them wasn’t something they completely avoided last year.

Something that Marquette may just have to take the loss on is interior scoring. They allowed The Mount to get what they wanted in the win, allowing a 2-point FG% of 69.6 percent. What’s more is that, at the cup, they allowed 70.6 percent of attempts to fall. Haas and freshman Matt Haarms, as well as junior Jacquil Taylor may be able to find it easy to attack the rim with MU’s lack of a real presence down low. Vincent Edwards, a Preseason All-Big Ten selection, will be one to watch as well. He’s gotten off to a hot start, scoring 14 and 15 in their first two games, and has lived inside, making 9-17 on 2-point tries so far.

With that said, Purdue will certainly (and finally) be tested this season after two breezes to start. While their defense has been good in the past few years, I wouldn’t expect the Golden Eagles to shoot 23.1 percent from 3 and 35.1 percent on 2-point tries as SIU Edwardsville and Chicago State collectively did. MU’s offense has far too many weapons, and it’s something that the Boilers will have to account for.

6-foot-4 senior Dakota Mathias may find himself on Markus Howard and/or Andrew Rowsey, as the Big Ten All-Defensive selection from a year ago has been stingy in his career. But will that be enough? Purdue has plenty of length, yes, but P.J. Thompson and Carsen Edwards, 5-foot-10 and 6-foot-1, are going to have to be on someone, and with MU’s abundance of wings, that could present a problem, too.

It’s a fascinating game, really, and one that should bring out the best in both teams. Purdue is a bit of a nightmare matchup-wise for Marquette, but the Golden Eagles still have a lot of firepower.

Prediction: Marquette 93, Purdue 89