With the fourth-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles upsetting the top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks on Tuesday night 73-59, they are set to face the second-ranked Purdue Boilermakers on Wednesday. The Maui Championship Game is set for 5 p.m. ET, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
It could be a potential Final Four preview or a National Championship Game preview. The fact that this game is being played only in the month of November during college basketball season is crazy in itself.
Purdue and Marquette are both 5-0 so far this season. This game will go a long way in deciding who will be the top-ranked team in the country come Monday in college basketball. It could also decide a potential number one overall seed in the NCAA Tournament come March.
On Monday, Marquette had three players in double figures for head coach Shaka Smart. Oso Ighodaro scored 21 points, Kam Jones scored 10 points, and Chase Ross had 12 points for the Golden Eagles.
The Marquette Golden Eagles Will Need to Be Ready For the second-ranked Purdue Boilermakers
It was great that Marquette was able to steamroll Kansas on Tuesday night, but they are going to have to repeat that performance again in order to take down Purdue. One of the toughest things to guard against Matt Painter’s team is center Zach Edey.
Against the seventh-ranked Tennessee Volunteers on Tuesday night in a 71-67 victory, he scored 23 points and 10 rebounds. Edey can’t be slowed down, and it will be interesting to see how well Oso Ighodaro will guard him.
The only other Purdue player to score in double figures on Tuesday night against Tennessee was Fletcher Loyer, with 27 points. The Boilermakers are also one of the best teams in the country, but they feel like a top-heavy basketball team.
This will be no cupcake matchup once again for the Marquette Golden Eagles. It may be tough for them to beat the first and second-ranked teams in college basketball on back-to-back days. If they do that, Marquette deserves to be the top-ranked team in the country next week.
