Dec. 31, 2009

Milwaukee -

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The Marquette University men’s basketball team opens the home portion of its BIG EAST Conference schedule when the team hosts No. 6/6 Villanova at 2:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon at the Bradley Center. ESPN2 will feature Marquette’s fifth national television broadcast of the campaign, with Eric Collins (play-by-play), Fran Fraschilla (analyst) and Doris Burke (analyst) calling the action. The Golden Eagles and Wildcats will face each other twice in a week’s span, with MU traveling to The Pavillion on Jan. 9 to complete the home-and-home series. Marquette wraps up it’s two-game homestand Jan. 6 versus No. 13/13 Georgetown.

MU’s Shooting Touch Heats Up From Distance
One game after shooting a season-best 60.9 percent from the field overall in the win over Presbyterian, the Golden Eagles collected a season-high effort from long distance at West Virginia.

MU finished 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) from behind the 3-point line versus the Mountaineers and is now 20-of-33 (60.1 percent) from long distance over the course of the last two outings. Senior Lazar Hayward led the way at WVU, finishing 4-of-7 on his 3-point attempts while sophomore Darius Johnson-Odom converted on 3-of-4 chances.

Marquette has now knocked down at least 50 percent of its treys on four occasions in 2009-10. Six different players have drained at least one 3-pointer in the last two games.

MU Coming Up Short In Close Contests
Tuesday night’s 63-62 loss at No. 6/6 West Virginia continued a recent trend of frustration by the Golden Eagles in tightly-contested games.

Since the beginning of the 2008-09 campaign, Marquette is just 2-7 in matchups decided by four-or-less points. That record includes an 0-3 mark (Florida State, NC State, WVU) in 2009-10. In each of the seven losses, MU owned the lead late into the second half of play.

Three of the games have come against nationally ranked opponents, including a 76-75 setback last year to No. 10 Villanova in the BIG EAST Conference Championship and an 83-79 loss to No. 9 Missouri in the NCAA Tournament.

Johnson-Odom One Of League’s Top 3-Point Shooters
Marquette sophomore guard Darius Johnson-Odom has proved to be the team’s most consistent 3-point threat through the first 13 games and as a result ranks among the league leaders.

Through games of Dec. 29, Johnson-Odom is first in the BIG EAST in 3-point field goal percentage (59.6) and fourth in treys per game (2.4). He has knocked down 31-of-52 from behind the line and 50.0 percent (54-of-108) of his total field goal attempts.

The Raleigh, N.C., native is just one trey short of qualifying for the national statistics, which requires 2.5 3-pointers made per outing. He would currently rank second in the nation with his conversion rate of 59.6 percent.

Johnson-Odom finished with 14 points and a team-best six rebounds in the loss at West Virginia. He was 3-of-4 from behind the line and combined with senior Lazar Hayward gives MU a pair of dangerous perimeter threats.