Fresh off Wednesday night's victory over Rutgers and with little time to prepare, the No. 10 Golden Eagles (23-5, 12-3 Big East) will be at West Virginia (17-11, 7-8) on Friday night to play in one of the tougher venues in the league against Kevin Jones, the front-runner for Big East player of the year.
Then Wednesday the Golden Eagles will be at Cincinnati to play a team they defeated at the Bradley Center on Feb. 11, but only after rallying from a 16-4 deficit. Going into Thursday's game against Louisville, the Bearcats had won four of their last five.
In the regular-season finale March 3 at the Bradley Center, the Golden Eagles will take on No. 9 Georgetown, which handed Marquette one of its three conference losses.
That should provide plenty of food for thought for the Golden Eagles, who have won four straight and 11 of their last 12.
"One of the things that's been really good about this group is their rhythm and route has been specific to the next game," said coach Buzz Williams. "When you get lost in the numbers and all of the hype surrounding our run over the last month and a half, sometimes that sedates you.
"We're not good enough to be sedated and think that we're just supposed to win. We don't have a margin (for error) where we can do that. That's not how we operate anyway."
Said senior forward Jae Crowder, "We can do whatever we want to do if we play the way we know how to play."
At West Virginia, the Golden Eagles will have their hands full with Jones, a 6-foot-8, 260-pound senior forward who leads the league in scoring (20.3 points in all games) and rebounding (11.2 all games). Like Crowder, Jones is ranked among the league's top 15 in several other statistical categories.
In conference-only games, Marquette's Darius Johnson-Odom (19.7 points) holds the scoring lead over Jones (19.3).
Jones registered his 18th double-double of the season with 16 points and 13 rebounds Feb. 16 against Pittsburgh but was limited to 15 points and eight rebounds in a 71-44 loss at Notre Dame on Wednesday.
"He's a great player," said Crowder. "I know that. My team knows that. They're a great team. I'm really looking forward to the matchup between me and him battling it out down there in West Virginia Friday. It's a tough matchup for me. I'll be watching film on him and have his moves down pat."
Williams didn't officially tip his hand about who would be matched up against Jones, but it likely will be Crowder in what would be a marquee matchup.
"So who's going to guard him and when are they going to guard him?" Williams asked without answering his question. "Can we guard him is probably the biggest question. He's really, really good."
It'll be a quick turnaround for both teams, but Williams said the Golden Eagles had been focused on getting by Rutgers before turning their attention to West Virginia.
"I want to win this (Rutgers) game and then after we win this game, we'll start talking about the next game," said Williams. "I think sometimes coaches try to go, 'Well, we're playing two games in 48 hours and how are we going to do this and how are we going to do that?' Win this game. Then we'll figure it out from there.
"We've got two consecutive road games against two teams that are playing extremely hard and it's tough to win at their place. They're both playing for a spot in the NCAA Tournament and will use our success to their advantage. So that's a very volatile place to be in and compete in.
"I don't know if you've ever been to West Virginia. . . but you think I'm from the country? That's a different joint there. And they will be fired up when we roll in there."
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