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Marquette faces another stiff test at Pittsburgh

Mar 4, 2009 - 11:18 AM No. 15 Marquette (23-6) at No. 4 Pittsburgh (26-3) 7:30 p.m. EST

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- The brutal stretch Marquette faced to close the season would have been difficult even with senior guard Dominic James.

With James out for the season because of a broken bone in his left foot, the 15th-ranked Golden Eagles have stumbled to two straight losses, and things won't be any easier Wednesday when they visit No. 4 Pittsburgh.

Once in control of their own destiny in the talented Big East, the Golden Eagles (23-6, 12-4 Big East) are just trying to secure a bye for the first two rounds of the conference tournament after suffering losses to Connecticut and Louisville.

Without James, who suffered the injury early in a 93-82 loss to the then-No. 2 Huskies last Wednesday, leading-scorer Jerel McNeal will have to pick up even more of the slack.

The Conference Player of the Year candidate had trouble doing so Sunday, shooting a season-worst 3-of-19 for just 10 points, nearly 10 below his season average, in a 62-58 loss to the then-No. 6 Cardinals.

Marquette started off conference play 9-0, but a loss to the Panthers would drop them into a tie for fourth with Villanova in the standings with a contest against No. 25 Syracuse looming on Saturday.

The top four seeds in the conference tournament receive byes to the quarterfinals, something

Pittsburgh (26-3, 13-3) can lock up with a win over the Golden Eagles.

Following a surprising, 83-71 loss at Providence on February 24, the Panthers bounced back with a 89-78 victory at Seton Hall on Saturday.

Sam Young collected 29 points and 10 rebounds and DeJuan Blair had nine and 10 while playing limited minutes with a slight knee injury. If healthy, Blair should be able to control the middle against an undersized Marquette squad.