The Lafayette-Marquette basketball game on Jan. 14 will be all a rivalry, a home opener and a rematch all rolled into one.
The rivalry promises to offer its usual energy, with Superfans calling for a “white out” of the Lafayette student section to intensify the home opener.
“We gotta hope they don’t draw an ‘M’ on our court tomorrow,” junior Blake Stonecipher said, referring to the prank pulled by Marquette students before last October’s football matchup.
And if that wasn’t enough, the Lancers will have extra motivation after falling to the Mustangs 41-26 in the Meramec Tournament on Dec. 27.
“It’s proving that we’re better than last time,” junior Nick Messer added, “You play as hard as you can and leave it all out there.”
Both teams sit at 6-6 on the season, but have taken different paths to this point. The Mustangs started 4-3, but have leveled off recently with a 2-3 record in their past five games. Meanwhile, the Lancers are clearly playing at a higher level after suffering five double-digit losses early on.
“I’d like to think we are. We have a lot of games coming up so we’ve been practicing hard,” Head Coach Scott Allen said.
To avoid a repeat of the last meeting, the Lancers will have to contain center Ryan Rosburg, who finished with 20 points on Dec. 27. At 6’9”, Rosburg is an obvious force under the basket and is averaging 17.6 ppg this season.
“We have to give him our full attention on both sides. They have some other big guys too, so we can’t focus on just Rosburg,” Allen said.
On the offensive end, junior Joel Pennington has put together a string of big games recently, including a 29-point effort against Fort Zumwalt West on Dec. 28. He along and senior Aareon Smith will be called upon to carry the scoring burden.
