Seton Hall vs Marquette Odds, Pick for Saturday

The Big East standings are chaotic. Entering this weekend's games, just one loss separates second place from eighth place.

To some, the exact finishing positions in a conference might not matter on a grand scale for the majority of teams. However, at this point in the season, the difference could be monumental.

The top five teams in the Big East will ultimately earn a bye into the conference tournament quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden.

For a team like Seton Hall, which has overperformed expectations to date, that seeding could be a huge leg up when jockeying for NCAA Tournament seeding with other teams just inside the bubble.

For Marquette, which has such a strong nonconference slate, its placement in the Big East hierarchy should be more focused on a chance at winning the regular-season title. UConn holds a two-game lead and sits as massive favorites, but Marquette still gets two cracks at the Huskies and desperately needs to stay within arm's length.

The last week has been a little bit of a disaster for Seton Hall.

The Pirates kicked off conference play with a 7-1 record and kept pace with Connecticut atop the standings. Wins over Marquette and UConn announced Seton Hall as a real force in the Big East this season.

Last Saturday, however, the Pirates missed their chances to make another massive statement.

Seton Hall led Creighton by nine in the second half but got dragged through three overtimes before suffering a home loss. The Pirates followed up that heartbreak with more agony, losing at home to Providence, again squandering a second-half lead.

Kadary Richmond, the Pirates' leading scorer, was notably absent from the Providence game after logging 51 minutes and a triple-double in the Creighton game. His offense was sorely missed by Seton Hall, which saw only five players score against the Friars, not including Dylan Addae-Wusu, who produced a goose egg despite taking 13 shots from the field.

Though Seton Hall coughed up those chances against Providence and Creighton, some regression was coming. The magic sauce that led to the 7-1 start in conference simply didn't bear out in the numbers.

The Pirates have a solid but unreliable offense, plagued by a major issue with turnovers.

Defensively, there are notable individual efforts, like Richmond as an on-ball stopper or Jaden Bediako as a shot-blocker, though as a whole, the team defense has major lapses.

Seton Hall wants to play ugly, with turnovers, offensive rebounds and a half-court grind deciding games. Last week, that bit the Pirates twice, with the grind slowing to a halt against more explosive opponents.

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On Jan. 15, the one-time favorite to win the Big East sat at just 2-3 in conference play, with two critical matchups ahead. Marquette welcomed Villanova to Milwaukee, then traveled to Madison Square Garden to dance with St. John's.

Even splitting those two games would feel a little troublesome, as the Golden Eagles would have already surpassed their number of conference losses from last season before the month of January even concluded this season.

Instead, Marquette took care of business, burying Villanova late and surviving a scare from the Johnnies. After dispatching DePaul, the road once again gets bumpy.

Marquette hosts Seton Hall before traveling to Villanova in the next four days. This is a stretch that will determine if the Golden Eagles are anywhere near the same tier as UConn or closer to the pack of challengers further down the standings.

In theory and on paper, this Marquette team looks elite.

Tyler Kolek is an elite ball-handler, working in tandem with a perfect pick-and-roll partner in Oso Ighodaro. Kam Jones and David Joplin are bucket-making scorers on the wings, and Shaka Smart can scheme a defensive stop as well as any coach this side of Kelvin Sampson.

Despite all of that, this team has five losses.

The most critical issue comes at the offensive end, where Marquette ranks in the top 40 in the nation in 3-point attempts but outside the top half of the country in 3-point percentage. In four of Marquette's five losses, the Golden Eagles have hit under 30% from long range.

The most concerning issues are the lack of other options and the lack of free-throw attempts.

Jones and Joplin are more comfortable shooting than attacking. Kolek glides around the court like Steve Nash without a direct downhill gear. Ighodaro, a productive paint scorer, is great at shooting floaters and push shots but makes only three free throws per game despite all of his efforts in the paint.

If Marquette is going to be a factor into March, the Golden Eagles need a way to manufacture offense when the team collectively goes cold.

It's pretty hard to handicap this one without knowing Richmond's status. He missed Seton Hall's last game, and head coach Shaheen Holloway was very non-committal when asked to define his status or a timeline moving forward.

If he were not to play, it's hard to see Seton Hall scoring enough to compete with Marquette or push this game over the total.

Marquette is a high-end defensive team and shouldn't have issues keeping the Pirates' dribble penetration out of the paint, nor major trouble cleaning up the defensive glass.

If Richmond plays, I'd think Seton Hall has a better chance to stay under or near the spread, but the total would feel more in question.

Pick: Lean Under 146.5 (If Richmond is Out)

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