Marquette comes calling on No. 20 Ohio State

Nov 18, 2014 - 3:46 PM Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - The Marquette Golden Eagles will try to make it two wins in a row to start the Steve Wojciechowski era, although doing so won't be easy as the team hits the road to challenge the 20th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on Tuesday night.

Wojciechowski, who spent nearly 20 years as a player and coach at Duke, picked up his first win as a head coach in Marquette's 79-63 verdict versus visiting UT-Martin last Friday. In addition to this test, the Golden Eagles will also tangle with Georgia Tech, possibly Michigan State, Wisconsin and Arizona State prior to opening Big East Conference play at DePaul on New Year's Eve.

Ohio State is considered one of the favorites to win the Big Ten Conference this season, and while the competition wasn't there, coach Thad Matta's club looked the part as it demolished visiting UMass-Lowell in the season opener last Friday, 92-55. The win improved the Buckeyes to an impressive 89-8 at home since the start of the 2009-10 season, giving them the best home winning percentage (.918) of any team over than span.

Ohio State owns a 6-4 lead in the all-time series with Marquette, which includes a 52-35 victory last November.

The Golden Eagles opened the season with a relatively easy win over UT-Martin, as Jajuan Johnson led four players in double figures with a career-high 20 points. Juan Anderson also established a new career high with 16 points for the Golden Eagles, who will likely have a tough time against bigger teams as there is no active player on the roster taller than Steve Taylor, Jr. (6- foot-7). Matt Carlino scored 11 points and dished out seven of the team's 19 assists, while Deonte Burton chipped in with 10 points in 12 minutes of action off the bench for MU, which shot 48.2 percent from the field, including a 10- of-23 effort from beyond the arc. The Golden Eagles were outrebounded, 34-25, but committed only seven turnovers to 19 for the Skyhawks.

The Buckeyes put five players in double figures, as they easily disposed of UMass Lowell to tip off the season. Freshman D'Angelo Russell poured in 16 points, Marc Loving and Sam Thompson had 14, Anthony Lee 13 and Kam Williams 12 for an Ohio State squad that shot a sizzling 61.7 percent from the field, hitting nine 3-pointers along the way. Shannon Scott nearly had himself a double-double as he dished out 11 of the team's 20 assists, while netting nine points. OSU turned the ball over only nine times, compared to 19 by the River Hawks, who made good on 42.6 percent of their total shots, and came away with only 24 rebounds.