#MUBB Opens Charleston Classic Against Ole Miss

The Marquette University men's basketball team (3-0, 0-0 BIG EAST) hits the road for the first time this season when the team travels to the Shriner's Children's Charleston Classic to face Ole Miss (2-0, 0-0 SEC) on Thursday, Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. CT in the opening round. ESPN2 will feature the national television broadcast, with Rich Hollenberg (play-by-play) and Debbie Antonelli (analyst) calling the action. Based on Thursday's result, Marquette will take on either West Virginia or Elon on Friday, before completing tournament action with the eight-team field on Sunday, Nov. 21.

Marquette Facing Rebels For Second Time

Marquette and Mississippi have faced each other just once, meeting in the second round of the 2011 Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The 21st-ranked Golden Eagles posted a 96-66 win on Nov. 20, 2011 en route to the tournament championship the following day with a 59-57 victory over Norfolk State. Against the Rebels, Jae Crowder led three players in double figures with 25 points and Darius Johnson-Odom chipped in 20 points.

Defense The Difference In Top-10 Win

Marquette's defense was the difference, especially down the stretch, in the team's 67-66 win over No. 10/10 Illinois Monday night at Fiserv Forum in the Gavitt Tipoff Games.

The Golden Eagles forced stops on 10-of-11 Illini possessions to close the game, holding Illinois to just a single point over the final 5:33 of action. Trailing 65-57 at that point, Marquette finished on a 10-1 run, thanks to a defensive effort that held the Fighting Illini to 0-of-8 from the floor, created three turnovers and blocked a pair of shot attempts.

MU finished the night forcing 26 turnovers, with guard Tyler Kolek creating the most important one in the closing seconds. He knocked the ball away at midcourt and scored on a layup with 17 seconds left to give the Golden Eagles a 67-66 lead and the defense came up with one more stop to secure the win.

Kuath Matches Personal-Best Block Total

Through the first two outings of the year, senior Kur Kuath had a total of four blocked shots in a pair of starting assignments.

The senior transfer from Oklahoma had a bigger impact on the defensive end in the win over Illinois, matching a collegiate career high with five swats. Included in his total were blocks of Illinois' Angel Curbelo on back-to-back possessions during the team's 10-1 run to close the game. Kuath finished with seven points, five rebounds and five blocks in just 23 minutes of action.

Monday's total matched his personal-best single-game effort, which he collected with the Sooners on multiple occasions, most recently against Gonzaga (3/22/21) in the NCAA tournament. For his career, Kuath has blocked 95 opponent shot attempts.

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Players Mentioned

Tyler Kolek

Kur Kuath