Creighton @ Marquette preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 1, 2020 ) Marquette 75, Creighton 92

No. 15 Creighton hopes to continue its push toward first place in the Big East when it visits 19th-ranked Marquette on Tuesday. The Bluejays have won three straight and seven of their last eight to pull within one game of league-leading Seton Hall, which visits Creighton in the finale of the regular season March 7.

Behind a season high-tying 24 points by junior guard Ty-Shon Alexander, the Blue Jays followed up a huge road win over the first-place Pirates with a 93-64 rout of DePaul on Saturday. "I don't think DePaul had lost a double-figure game on the road all year long," Creighton coach Greg McDermott told reporters after the win. "Nobody's done this to them. That speaks volumes to the growth of this group of guys. They're really connected on the defensive end, we're really unselfish on the offensive end. That's usually a pretty good recipe for success." The Golden Eagles have been following Creighton up the standings with a 6-1 stretch before a 72-71 loss at No. 13 Villanova on Wednesday. Star senior Markus Howard became the Big East's all-time leading scorer in league games in the contest and tops the nation in scoring at 27.3.

TIME: 8:30 p.m. ET. TV: Fox Sports 1

ABOUT CREIGHTON (20-6, 9-4 Big East): Alexander was 8-of-12 from the floor in the rout of the Blue Demons while contributing career highs of eight assists and five steals. He leads the team in scoring (16.7) while sophomore guard Marcus Zegarowski is right behind (15.8) and paces the squad in assists (5.2) after finishing Saturday's win with 11 points and six assists. Junior guard Mitch Ballock chips in 12.3 points and a team-leading 5.5 rebounds - nine against DePaul.

ABOUT MARQUETTE (17-7, 7-5): Howard scored 24 points while making 5-of-11 from 3-point range and he enters Monday having made 15 more triples than any player in the conference. "Markus has had a historical career," coach Steve Wojciechowski told the media. "But I can tell you he's not in the locker room right now thinking at all about those records. When his career is over - hopefully that's a long way down the road - he'll be able to take in the history that he's created at Marquette and in the Big East Conference." Senior guard Sacar Anim chipped in 14 points at Villanova to raise his average to 13.1 and junior guard Koby McEwen notched his second double-double in a five-game stretch with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Bluejays freshman G Shereef Mitchell made all four of his shot attempts - one from long range - while scoring a season-high 11 points against DePaul.

2. Golden Eagles sophomore F Brendan Bailey missed all five of his shot attempts at Villanova after scoring 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting in a win over Butler on Feb. 9.

3. Ballock scored 24 points and Alexander added 21 in a 92-75 win over Marquette earlier in the season.

PREDICTION: Marquette 85, Creighton 83