MU has two road games left to right the ship
The most important month in college basketball has arrived.
But before all the March Madness water-cooler conversations about brackets and upsets, Marquette still has to play two more regular-season games.
The Golden Eagles (18-10, 8-8 Big East) face DePaul (14-15, 2-14) at 7 p.m. Tuesday night at Wintrust Arena and then will play St. John's at 11 a.m. Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
“There's still a lot more basketball to be played,” MU senior guard Markus Howard said. “There's still more to prove. A lot more to do with our season.”
MU has lost four of its last five games, and winning the final two games would ease concerns the team is stumbling down the stretch like last season, when the Golden Eagles dropped six of their final seven, including the postseason.
Providence is alone in fourth place in the conference at 10-6. MU is tied for fifth with Xavier and Butler at 8-8.
Seton Hall (13-3), Creighton (11-5) and Villanova (11-5) can't finish lower than third in the Big East. Georgetown (5-11), St. John's (4-12) and DePaul are locked into the bottom three spots in the standings.
The Golden Eagles are trying to avoid finishing seventh, which would mean a first-round game in the conference tournament on March 11 in New York.
Xavier (at Providence on Wednesday and home vs. Butler on Saturday) probably has the toughest remaining games. Butler also plays St. John's on Wednesday and Providence finishes with DePaul on Saturday.
So the seedings for the Big East tournament likely won't shake out until after the final regular-season games Saturday.
The first tie-breaking scenario is head-to-head results and the next is comparing records vs. whoever finishes atop the standings.
MU finished 2-0 against Xavier and 1-1 against Butler.
MU has struggled against the top teams in the conference, going 1-7 against Seton Hall, Villanova, Creighton and Providence. The Golden Eagles' only victory came against Villanova on Jan. 4.
The Golden Eagles can't ponder all the possibilities in the standings, only focus on getting back-to-back victories to end the regular season.
DePaul played MU tough on Feb. 1, with the Golden Eagles needing clutch plays from Howard for a 76-72 victory at Fiserv Forum.
The Blue Demons' length and physicality posed some problems for MU. But 6-foot- 9 junior forward Paul Reed did not play in DePaul's 60-42 loss to Butler on Saturday due to a hip pointer. The NBA prospect had 14 points and seven rebounds in the first matchup with the Golden Eagles.
Howard, the nation's leading scorer at 27.6 points per game, had 37 Saturday in MU's 88-79 loss to Seton Hall. His teammates mostly struggled, although the center duo of junior Theo John and graduate transfer Jayce Johnson combined for 12 points and 22 rebounds.
With the Golden Eagles' defense struggling against the Pirates, MU head coach Steve Wojciechowski used both John and Johnson for a stretch in the second half, a rarity.
“The two guys I thought who really played well for us (besides Howard) were Jayce and Theo,” Wojciechowski said. “Those two kids really battled.”
MU will need more complete efforts in March. The Golden Eagles fell behind by 24 points against Seton Hall before cutting the deficit to five points in the final minute.
“Like Coach said in the locker room, we have to show that fight at the beginning of the game,” Howard said. “It's disappointing, but I see a lot of promise coming our way.”