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The Marquette Golden Eagles survived quite a scare on Monday against Eastern Illinois. Despite being down for much of the game, they managed to pull off an 86-83 victory in overtime.
Marquette will look to give their fans less of a fright as they face the Chicago State Cougars on Wednesday night. The game is the second of a four-game homestand.
This will be the eighth matchup all-time between Marquette and Chicago State. The Golden Eagles are a perfect 7-0 heading into Wednesday’s game. The two teams last played on Dec. 21, 2015, with Marquette securing a 91-74 win.
Major Keys
Time & Place: 9:00 PM ET, BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
TV: FS2 (Jeff Levering, Stephen Bardo)
Radio: 540 ESPN (Steve “Homer” True, Jim McIlvaine)
Streaming: FOX Sports GO (where available)
Gambling (via OddsShark): Marquette opened as a 26-point favorite.
Scouting Reports
Chicago State: The Cougars continue their annual non-conference guarantee game tour when they enter the Bradley Center on Wednesday. 12 of their 16 non-con games this season are away from their home, the Jones Convocation Center. Marquette is their eighth road opponent.
Chicago State will also be looking for their third win of the season, but their first against a Division I opponent. Chicago State is 0-7 against Division I schools this year. They are currently on a 19-game losing streak against D-I teams dating back to last season. Their last D-I win was on Jan. 12, 2017 at Utah Valley. The Cougars’ two wins this season came over NAIA school Silver Lake College and unaffiliated East-West University.
The player to watch for Chicago State is Fred Sims, Jr.. The junior from Chicago is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 15.3 points per game this season. He entered the school’s 1,000-point club in their win over East-West, scoring 15 points on the night.
Marquette: The Golden Eagles enter their second game without Haanif Cheatham. Cheatham left the team on Nov. 27, citing personal reasons. Sacar Anim started in his placed against Eastern Illinois, playing 29 minutes and scoring nine points on 3-for-9 shooting. This game would be great for experimenting with lineups to see who can fill the void the rest of the way.
The sub-six-feet backcourt duo of Andrew Rowsey and Markus Howard has been big for Marquette. Rowsey has been a true senior leader, averaging 23.3 points and 4.0 assists per game. Both of those number are team-highs. He has also averaged a solid 38.0 percent from three. Howard is averaging 17.7 points per game.
But sophomore Sam Hauser has been the one to step up in recent games. It was his career-high 30 points that helped Marquette get past Eastern Illinois. He also has a pair of 20-point games on his ledger this season. Hauser is averaging 14.8 points per game and shooting 47.4 percent from three on the year.