Nov. 28, 2007

MU-UWM Game Notes (PDF)

The No. 13/14 Marquette University men's basketball team returns home Friday night to renew its series against Milwaukee at 7:30 p.m. at the Bradley Center. The Golden Eagles and Panthers will be meeting for the first time since 1998 in a series that dates back to 1917. ESPN Plus will produce the broadcast, which will air locally in the greater Milwaukee area on WMLW. Lou Canellis (play-by-play) and Steve Bardo (analyst) will call the action.

Friday's matchup begins a stretch of the 2007-08 campaign that sees the Golden Eagles play six of seven outings at the Bradley Center. That run concludes Jan. 3 with the BIG EAST opener against Providence.

MU Hoping To Extend Perfect Run Against UWM
Marquette has matched up with UW-Milwaukee in men's basketball on 34 occasions all-time, coming away victorious in each of those outings. The Golden Eagles' current 34-game winning streak is the second-longest active run by any program against a single opponent and ranks 10th all-time.

Of the 34 matchups, 31 have come in Marquette's home arena. That current home-court run is third in the NCAA Record Book's latest edition, just behind Indiana's 33-game streak against Northwestern.

Marquette opened the series with a pair of wins in the 1916-17 campaign, the program's first at the varsity level. The most recent matchup came on Dec. 8, 1998 and resulted in a 77-56 victory for the Golden Eagles.

Friday's game marks the first in a five-year agreement signed between the two schools prior to this year. Four of those contests will take place at the Bradley Center.

Golden Eagles Come Up Just Short In Tourney Bid
Bidding for its fourth regular-season tournament title in four years, Marquette came up just short in its efforts to claim the trophy at the 2007 EA Sports Maui Invitational.

The Golden Eagles posted wins over host Chaminade and Oklahoma State before falling 77-73 to nationally ranked Duke in the championship matchup.

MU claimed the BCA Classic (2004-05), Great Alaska Shootout (2005-06) and CBE Classic (2006-07) in addition to the Pepsi Classic in each of the last three seasons.

Junior guards Dominic James and Jerel McNeal were named to the all-tourney squad for their respective three-game efforts. James averaged 13.7 points and 3.3 assists per game in Maui, while McNeal chipped in 17.7 points and 3.7 boards on the island.

For his efforts, McNeal was also named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll and is the first Golden Eagle to be honored this season.

No Sophomore Slump In The Works For Hayward
Forward Lazar Hayward enjoyed a successful debut campaign at the collegiate level in 2006-07, finishing with season averages of 6.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.

He started 16 of the squad's 34 outings and shot 42.8 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from the charity stripe.

The Buffalo, N.Y., native has improved his numbers across the board in 2007-08. He is currently contributing 11.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in just 24.6 minutes per night. Hayward is shooting 57.9 percent from the floor and has knocked down 13-of-16 (81.3 percent) of his free throw chances.

Inserted into the starting lineup for the team's trip to Maui, Hayward concluded the tournament averaging 12.0 points and 5.0 rebounds in the three games.