3 Things I Want to See from Purdue vs. Marquette

The Boilermakers look to bounce back from a tough loss against Texas with a tough showdown with Marquette in Milwaukee.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue's difficult November nonconference schedule continues Wednesday night with a tough matchup at Marquette as part of the Gavitt Games.

Neither team is ranked in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll, but don't let that fool you. This is a matchup of teams with hefty postseason aspirations. Both received votes in the poll and Marquette is No. 29 and Purdue is No. 32. Purdue was ranked in the preseason poll but dropped out after its tough loss to Texas at home Saturday night. 

Here are the particulars:

• Who: Purdue Boilermakers (1-1) vs. Marquette Golden Eagles (1-0)
• When: 9:15 p.m. ET Wednesday, Nov. 13
• Where: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisc.
• Line: Marquette is a 1-point favorite
• Kenpom.com rankings: Purdue 9, Marquette 15 (out of 353 Division I teams)
• TV: FoxSports1
• Announcers: Lisa Byington, Stephen Bardo
• Radio: Purdue Radio Network
• Announcers: Larry Clisby, Rob Blackman, Ralph Taylor

Here are three things I want to see from the Boilermakers Wednesday night against Marquette:

1. Erase memories of a bad finish

Purdue had Texas beat Saturday night at Mackey Arena but three bad turnovers late turned the tide and let the Longhorns sneak out with a win. That's one thing you just don't want to see happen, especially this early in the season.

For the Boilers, you don't want that to start being a trend. This is a tight game — Marquette is favored by 1 — so it's going to be critical to make big plays down the stretch. Bad turnovers need to be avoided, for sure.

2. Keep Marquette's Markus Howard in check

Markus Howard became Marquette's all-time leading scorer (1,993 points) during the season opener when he went for 38 points in the easy 88-53 win against Loyola-Maryland. He made 7 of 10 3-pointers and 9 of 10 free throws.

He's a crazy scorer much like Carsen Edwards was last year for Purdue, so the Boilermakers have to make sure that he doesn't simply take over the game. He's going to get his points, but you can't let the 5-foot-11 guard cripple you. 

3. Match Marquette from the 3-point line

Purdue is trying to find a way to replace a lot of 3-point scoring from Edwards and Ryan Cline, and so far they've been pretty good. Purdue is 14 of 35 as a team from deep, good for 40 percent, which is always respectable. 

It helped getting sophomore guard Sasha Stefanovich back against Texas. He missed the season opener with a foot injury, but hit four 3s against the Longhorns. He'll need to be productive against Marquette as well.