Marquette's David Joplin is adamant that teammate Oso Ighodaro is the best big man in the nation, and it is getting easy to see why.
Ighodaro has made his presence felt in all facets of the game over the past two months. He will attempt to keep flourishing on Saturday afternoon when 14th-ranked Marquette faces Seton Hall in Milwaukee.
The 6-foot-11 Ighodaro has been hard to stop since the Golden Eagles' 78-59 victory over Notre Dame on Dec. 9, averaging 16.0 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists over the past 10 games.
Ighodaro flashed a little bit of everything on Wednesday night, netting 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting to go along with 12 boards, six assists and two blocks as the Golden Eagles (14-5, 5-3 Big East) posted an 86-73 win over DePaul.
"He plays the whole game. He plays hard. He sprints the floor. He plays defense. I think he's unguardable," Joplin said of Ighodaro. "We always have confidence in him and try to run offense through him because when we do that, good things happen."
Tyler Kolek finished with 22 points and seven assists and Joplin poured in 21 points in the victory for Marquette, which is riding a three-game winning streak.
But now the Golden Eagles will be tested by the Pirates (13-7, 6-3), who have already gotten the best of Marquette this season.
Back when the Golden Eagles were ranked seventh in the country, Seton Hall edged them 78-75 on Jan. 6. Al-Amir Dawes led the Pirates with 23 points, while Kadary Richmond had 21.
However, Richmond could miss Saturday's game due to an undisclosed injury. He didn't play on Wednesday in Seton Hall's 67-63 setback to Providence.
"I don't know the timetable, I don't know too much," Pirates coach Shaheen Holloway said of Richmond's status. "I'm sure he'll get evaluated (Thursday) and try to figure it out."
Even if Richmond isn't good to go, Dawes is confident Seton Hall can hang with Marquette.
"(Richmond) is one of the other guys that's good at playmaking and just a good basketball player," Dawes said. "So obviously we definitely need him, but we've got a lot of talented guys that have the ability to withstand (his absence)."
The Pirates will have their hands full, though, as Marquette has four players with scoring averages in double figures.
Kolek is averaging a team-high 14.7 points per game, followed by Kam Jones (14.4), Ighodaro (14.2) and Joplin (10.1).
When the Golden Eagles stumbled against Seton Hall on Jan. 6, Kolek was held to just five points on 1-of-6 shooting in 36 minutes of action. He also had a team-high three turnovers.
Richmond posts 16.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.2 steals per game to headline the Pirates' attack. Dawes averages 14.8 points, and Dre Davis averages 13.7.
Saturday marks the 37th all-time meeting between the teams, with Marquette holding a 23-13 edge in the series. The Golden Eagles had won four straight against Seton Hall prior to the loss earlier this month.
More must-reads: