Marquette Basketball: Reviewing 2019-20 non-conference schedule
By Brian Foley
Dec. 17 vs. Grambling State
Last Year: 17-17 (10-8 SWAC)
NCAA Tournament: No
2019-20 Projection: 189th
For some reason, Grambling State has become something of a semi-annual scheduling tradition for Marquette, as this will be the schools’ sixth meeting since 2002. The Golden Eagles won each of the first five matchups by an average of 36.4 points, but GSU may provide more of a test this time around.
The Tigers’ projected top-seven minutes leaders are all seniors, and they have shown steady improvement as a group throughout their tenure, climbing from 333rd to 315th to 277th last year in T-Rank’s metric system. The SWAC is a notoriously poor hoops conference, but Grambling State does enter as the conference favorite.
This will be a homecoming for Grambling State’s second-leading scorer, Dallas Polk-Hilliard, who played at Messmer High School in Milwaukee. Polk-Hilliard averaged 12.8 ppg and 5.4 rpg on 45 percent three-point shooting last season, and at 6-foot-7, he could cause some problems for Marquette. He dropped 17 points and 10 rebounds at Wisconsin last December, so he is certainly comfortable playing in front of his home crowd.