Washington, D.C. — Through one week of conference play, going on the road has been a dangerous proposition for teams in the Big East.
Home teams have held serve in nine of the league's first 10 games. Butler knocked off St. John's to claim the conference's only road win Saturday.
"You have to win every game at home if you want to have a chance at even being in the top five of the Big East," Marquette senior forward Juan Anderson said. "It is a great conference."
Marquette (9-5, 1-1 Big East) hasn't won a true road game yet this season going into the 6 p.m. Tuesday tilt against Georgetown (9-4, 1-1) at the Verizon Center. The Golden Eagles fell at Ohio State in November and dropped their Big East opener to DePaul in Chicago last Wednesday.
Head coach Steve Wojciechowski may only have two Big East games under his belt, but he recognizes the intensity of conference road games.
"I'd stack our conference up against anyone," Wojciechowski said. "It's very difficult to win on the road in this league. You look at the schools in this league and their amazing basketball traditions and support and fan bases, and we have some great coaches in our league.
"You put all those ingredients together and I think you have one of if not the best basketball conferences in the country."
Awaiting Marquette is a Georgetown team that was ranked No. 25 last week in The Associated Press poll before falling at Xavier. The Hoyas have been battle-tested this season, ranking 18th in the country in strength of schedule thus far. Their three non-conference losses came against No. 4 Wisconsin (68-65), No. 12 Kansas (75-70) and Butler (64-58) in a rare conference matchup at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas.
Over the past five years, Marquette hasn't had much success at the Verizon Center. The Golden Eagles lost four in a row there before pulling out an 80-72 overtime victory last season.
Anderson is making his fourth trip to the nation's capital and says it's always tough visiting Georgetown.
"We have to have better leadership; we have to learn how to win on the road," Anderson said. "We gave up two on the road in Ohio State and DePaul."
Asked to describe what stands out about the Hoyas, Anderson didn't hesitate.
"Their offense," he said. "They are big on back cuts. You have to be disciplined on defense. Sometimes we get out of the realm of being disciplined....When you do that, Georgetown makes you pay."
The Georgetown players who could make Marquette pay for defensive lapses are preseason conference player of the year D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera and mammoth center Josh Smith.
Smith-Rivera has been the go-to guy for Georgetown. The 6-foot-3 junior guard is the fifth-highest scorer in the conference at 14.2 points per game. He also contributes 4.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals per contest.
Smith will literally be a huge challenge in the post for Marquette. The 6-foot-10, 350-pound senior is unlike any player the Golden Eagles have seen this season and has put up solid numbers with 12.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
The upperclassmen aren't the only ones powering the Hoyas, though. Three freshmen — L.J. Peak (9.9 ppg.), Paul White (7.2 ppg.) and Tre Campbell — scored in double figures in Georgetown's win over Creighton on Saturday. Peak had 14, Campbell 13 and White added 10.
After having its four-game win steak snapped at DePaul last week, Marquette hopes that Saturday's victory over Providence is the start of another streak, and Tuesday brings another milestone — Wojciechowski's first road win.
Source : http://www.jsonline.com/sports/goldeneagles/golden-eagles-look-for-first-road-win-against-georgetown-b99419733z1-287593511.html
