Marquette meets St. John's in Big East quarters
No. 7 seed St. John's (21-11, 9-10) vs. No. 2 seed Marquette (23-8, 12-6)
Big East Conference Tourney Quarterfinals, Madison Square Garden, New York; Thursday, 6 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: St. John's is set to square off against Marquette in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament. St. John's won both of the regular season matchups earlier this season. The teams last faced each other on Feb. 5, when the Red Storm shot 45.6 percent from the field while holding Marquette's shooters to just 40.7 percent en route to a 70-69 victory.
TEAM LEADERS: Marquette's Markus Howard has averaged 25 points and four assists while Sam Hauser has put up 14.8 points and 7.1 rebounds. For the Red Storm, Shamorie Ponds has averaged 19.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists while LJ Figueroa has put up 14.6 points and 6.2 rebounds.
OFFENSIVE THREAT: Howard has accounted for 47 percent of all Marquette field goals over the last three games. Howard has 21 field goals and 11 assists in those games.
PERFECT WHEN: St. John's is a perfect 10-0 when it holds an opponent to 69 points or fewer. The Red Storm are 11-11 when opponents score more than 69.
ASSIST RATIOS: The Golden Eagles have recently converted buckets via assists more often than the Red Storm. Marquette has 37 assists on 68 field goals (54.4 percent) across its previous three outings while St. John's has assists on 36 of 86 field goals (41.9 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: The St. John's offense has recorded a turnover on only 14.4 percent of its possessions, which is the seventh-lowest rate in the nation. The Marquette defense has forced opposing teams to turn the ball over on just 17 percent of all possessions (ranked 287th among Division I teams).
