Jan. 19, 2007

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MILWAUKEE - The No. 24/- Marquette men's basketball team travels to No. 6/6 Pittsburgh for a nationally televised BIG EAST contest, Sunday at 2 p.m. CT, on CBS. The Golden Eagles are aiming for their fourth consecutive conference victory, which would be the longest in program history, and first win ever at the Peterson Center.

Last season, MU recorded two streaks of three-straight wins against BIG EAST opponents.

Marquette (16-4, 3-2) is coming off a 69-51 defeat of Louisville, Monday night, at Freedom Hall. Sophomore guard Dominic James led the Golden Eagles with 18 points, while junior forward Ousmane Barro tallied 14 to go along with 11 rebounds en route to recording his fourth double-double of the season.

An 82.4 percent (14-for-17) effort from the free throw line aided MU in the victory. It was the team's highest of the season.

James leads the team with 16.5 points per game this season. He scored 17-plus points (18, 21, 17) in each game during the team's three-game winning streak.

Sophomore Jerel McNeal is averaging 6.0 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 15.0 points per game in that span.

Pitt (17-2, 5-0) is perfect in league play this season and is riding a seven game winning streak. In its last outing, Jan. 16, UP hosted Connecticut, defeating the Huskies, 63-54. Center Aaron Gray grabbed 19 rebounds and tallied 22 points in the victory. He is averaging 10.3 rebounds and 15.1 points per game this season. Ronald Ramon added 17 points off the bench for the Panthers and was 4-for-4 from three-point range.

Junior Mike Cook (11.5 PPG) and senior Antonio Graves (10.4 PPG) also score in double figures per game.

Marquette and Pittsburgh split the series last season with the Panthers winning the first game (Jan. 20), at home, 77-71, before the Golden Eagles won the rematch (Feb. 18), 84-82.