Marquette Golden Eagles play the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in first round of NCAA Tournament
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (22-11, 11-8 CUSA) vs. Marquette Golden Eagles (25-9, 16-7 Big East)
Indianapolis; Friday, 2 p.m. EDT
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Golden Eagles -14.5; over/under is 158.5
BOTTOM LINE: No. 8 Marquette plays in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Western Kentucky.
The Golden Eagles have gone 16-7 against Big East opponents, with a 9-2 record in non-conference play. Marquette is fourth in the Big East scoring 78.3 points while shooting 47.8% from the field.
The Hilltoppers are 11-8 in CUSA play. Western Kentucky is the CUSA leader with 39.8 rebounds per game led by Babacar Faye averaging 5.6.
Marquette scores 78.3 points per game, 4.2 more points than the 74.1 Western Kentucky allows. Western Kentucky has shot at a 46.8% clip from the field this season, 4.4 percentage points above the 42.4% shooting opponents of Marquette have averaged.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kam Jones is averaging 16.8 points for the Golden Eagles. Ben Gold is averaging 1.3 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
Don McHenry is scoring 15.2 points per game and averaging 3.3 rebounds for the Hilltoppers. Dontaie Allen is averaging 1.7 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Golden Eagles: 6-4, averaging 77.2 points, 31.6 rebounds, 14.2 assists, 8.1 steals and 3.9 blocks per game while shooting 47.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 73.4 points per game.
Hilltoppers: 6-4, averaging 80.2 points, 39.1 rebounds, 12.4 assists, 8.5 steals and 3.5 blocks per game while shooting 46.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.2 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
