darn Dukie
This has been a season of peaks and valleys for Marquette. After dropping its first two Big East games, the Golden Eagles reeled off eighth-straight, including a three-point win at Pittsburgh on Jan. 21. Now, however, they have lost four of their last five, most notably a heartbreaking home defeat to Louisville on a buzzer-beating three-pointer by the Cardinals' Jerry Smith. Marquette's D has been underwhelming during this bad stretch; the Eagles have averaged just 6.0 steals in the four losses. That's a problem for a team that does not score easily in the half-court. Meanwhile, junior forward Ousmane Barro, who had 12 points and seven rebounds in Marquette's earlier win at Pitt, has averaged just 3.8 points in his last four games. Pittsburgh also seems to be lacking offensive firepower at times, but the Panthers had 24 assists on 29 made field goals in Monday's thrashing of West Virginia. I'm sure Marquette will be pumped up in front of its home crowd, but I still think Pitt is the better team.
Pittsburgh 74, Marquette 70
