DePaul heads north to face Marquette

FIBs.

Cheeseheads.

Claiming the only reason the state economy survives is because Illinoisans venture to tourist traps like Wisconsin Dells and Door County.

There’s a natural disdain between residents of Illinois and residents of Wisconsin. It extends, naturally, to sports. While Marquette/DePaul isn’t the rivalry of, say, Bears/Packers, it still exists. Geographic proximity and a long-standing series as conference mates is responsible.

Marquette comes into the game at 12-6 and 3-3 in Big East play. DePaul is 8-9 and 1-4.

How to watch, listen, or stream

Time: 8 p.m. CT

TV: FS1 (Jeff Levering, Dickey Simpkins)

Radio: WIND 560 AM (DePaul), ESPN 540 (Marquette)

Streaming: Fox Sports GO

Gamblin’ Info

Line: Marquette (-9.5)

O/U: 157

ATS: DePaul (9-7-1), Marquette (8-9)

Preview

With the way the Big East is made up this year, there are no easy games. With each of the conference’s 10 teams in the KenPom top 105, and veteran leadership and experience abound, it’s nearly impossible to try and predict what could happen on any given day.

The same can be said about Monday’s DePaul/Marquette game. Sure, the Golden Eagles are on their home court and have the conference’s two leading scorers in Markus Howard and Andrew Rowsey, but you never know what you’ll get in conference play. DePaul has looked good in spurts this season but, aside from last week’s win over St. John’s, hasn’t shown they can play a complete game.

Even if the Blue Demons find a way to slow down or match Howard and Rowsey (perhaps with Max Strus and... someone else?), Sam Hauser continues to emerge as a scoring threat for the Golden Eagles. He had a career-high 30 points in the loss to Butler and is averaging 14.3 points per game in conference play.