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Marquette Basketball: 2018-19 keys for the Golden Eagles vs. Villanova

By Brian Foley

VILLANOVA, PA - JANUARY 06: Phil Booth #5 of the Villanova Wildcats gets the ball knocked away by Markus Howard #0 of the Marquette Golden Eagles at The Wells Fago Center on January 6, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)
VILLANOVA, PA - JANUARY 06: Phil Booth #5 of the Villanova Wildcats gets the ball knocked away by Markus Howard #0 of the Marquette Golden Eagles at The Wells Fago Center on January 6, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images) /
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MILWAUKEE, WI – JANUARY 28: Eric Paschall #4 of the Villanova Wildcats drives around Sam Hauser #10 of the Marquette Golden Eagles during the first half at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on January 28, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – JANUARY 28: Eric Paschall #4 of the Villanova Wildcats drives around Sam Hauser #10 of the Marquette Golden Eagles during the first half at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on January 28, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

1. Eric Paschall going up against the Hausers

The game’s top-billed stars will undoubtedly be Markus Howard and Phil Booth (we’ll get to them later), but the trio of Eric Paschall, Sam Hauser, and Joey Hauser could tilt this game towards their respective teams.

Sam Hauser enters Saturday on an absolute tear and is playing with a newfound aggressiveness since Howard missed most of the Georgetown game with a back injury. Hauser is averaging 22.2 points on 13.5 field goal attempts per game over the past six contests, up from 13.5 points and 10.2 attempts over the first 17 games of the season. He has not played particularly well against Villanova throughout his career thus far (8.0 ppg on just 38.9 percent shooting over five games), but this is not the same Wildcats’ defense that Hauser has previously faced. Villanova has slipped to 81st in adjusted defensive efficiency after consecutive top-15 finishes over the past two years.

As hot as Sam has been, Joey has struggled nearly as much over the past week. After averaging 14 points on 51 percent shooting over a four-game stretch from Jan. 15-26, Hauser has only made one basket in MU’s last two games. He played a season-low 24 minutes against St. John’s on Tuesday despite avoiding foul trouble as he became a defensive liability against the Red Storm’s smaller lineups. Hauser has unbelievable offensive talent, so the freshman wall won’t keep him down for long. But his impact against Villanova will largely be decided by his ability to guard either the 6-foot-8 Paschall or 6-foot-8 fellow freshman Saddiq Bey (Bey has cracked double-digit points in four of his last five games).

Speaking of Paschall, his recent surge (19.9 points, 7.3 rebounds in conference play) has been a big part of Villanova’s 11-game win streak and recent offensive turnaround (the slugfest against Creighton not withstanding). Paschall is a streaky shooter – he has hit three or more treys eight different times this year, but is currently mired in a 5-21 slump over his last three contests – so Marquette will likely let him fire away until he knocks down a couple attempts (Paschall is 6-7 from deep in three career games against MU, though in a vastly different role).

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