In today Marquee Matchup, we have a rare twin bill during the week as an Orange and a Seahawk look to get conference wins. Find out who else is playing tonight right here ...
Marquee Matchup(s)
7:00pm Georgetown @ Syracuse
The Syracuse Orange have been playing some good ball since they snapped their unprecedented four game losing streak two games ago. And in those wins, Kris Joseph has been playing well – sort of. I only say sort of because he seems to come out and play his All American game when the competition warrants it. Needless to say, this Georgetown team will warrant a max effort from Joseph for sure. The Hoyas have won their last six games and all but two have been grind ‘em out kinda games with margins of five points or less. This means that they can close out the game if it’s close at the end. This will mean that Joseph can’t defer the responsibility of setting the tone and making the offense happen to someone else. He’s too dynamic a player to do that even if there are guys on the team that do one thing well. Look for Joseph to get a quick start in this one if the Orange want to win against Georgetown.
7:00pm Wagner @ Mount St. Mary’s
Wager is on a major turnaround this season and they have already improved their win total from last season by 7 already. Tyler Murray, a major reason for the sudden turnaround, has been playing well of late and is looking to get the Seahawks one step closer to that regular season conference crown. His last game, a win over Monmouth five days ago, saw him not make a three pointer, a first since Dec. 21. Despite that, he still hit for double figures scoring while dishing out 3 assists, catching 2 steals and grabbing 5 rebounds. This may not be an earth shattering game for most but if you’re looking for a baller in the rough, this is the game to watch. And you can expect Murray to come out in this one looking to lead his team to their third consecutive win. And for the record, the Seahawks are 6-3 when he scores over 20 points.
And here is where everyone else is playing tonight …
7:00pm Richmond @ George Washington
7:00pm Marquette @ South Florida
7:00pm Towson @ Northeastern
7:00pm Stony Brook @ New Hampshire
7:00pm American University @ Bucknell – After a slow start to this season, Bryson Johnson has been playing well of late and is scoring in bunches. Since his 25 point outburst Dec 22, he’s only hit for single digits scoring twice. He’s averaging 13.9 points in the last 12 games so look out tonight.
7:00pm Lafayette @ Colgate – Lafayette has been having a less than stellar season so far but they are still sitting third in the Patriot League standings. Jared Mintz has been the leader of the team all year in both scoring and rebounding despite being the lone post player to get all the defensive attention on the team. Because of that he’s had some good and not so good games all year. Expect this game to be one of his better ones.
7:00pm James Madison @ Drexel
7:00pm Charleston @ Elon
7:00pm St. Francis (NY) @ Long Island
7:00pm St. Francis (PA) @ Robert Morris
7:00pm Davidson @ Wofford
8:00pm Arkansas @ Mississippi State
8:00pm Texas State @ Central Arkansas – Imad Qahwash has been playing the Mo Pete role for Central Arkansas leading the team in scoring while coming off the bench for the entire season. His last game saw him drop 19 points on Texas Arlington and he’s averaging 14.8 through his last four games. This could be a big scoring night for him.
9:00pm Texas @ Oklahoma – I would normally have this game in the marquee matchup section above but really, I’m thinking that Texas will blowout Oklahoma in this one. Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph have cooled off of late with their production but they have been playing well nonetheless. If this is the blowout I expect, Thompson will likely sit a good part of it while Cory will run the offense and defend the Sooners’ best backcourt player. If it isn’t a blowout, then you can say I told you so.
11:00pm Utah State @ Idaho