Marquette Hosts Western Michigan

Marquette opens up play in the NIT tonight when they host the Western Michigan Broncos at the Bradley Center. The game is on ESPN - - something MU fans might loathe given MU's struggles on national television this year.

Tom Crean offers a very honest assessment of his team's ability to handle pressure defense in Todd Rosiak's curtain raiser on tonight's game: "We've looked like a junior-high team at times with the way we've handled the pressure, and that's no disrespect to the junior-high players and coaches out there. But we've got to do a better job of protecting the ball, looking up the floor, attacking, advancing the ball, not running away from it."

Here is the preview from the Kalamazoo Gazette. Western Michigan, which won the MAC West division, stands at 19-12 following a loss to Buffalo in the semi-finals of the MAC conference tournament. The Broncos shoot nearly 38% from behind the arc, with three players hitting at better than 41% from that distance. Seniors Ben Reed and Levi Rost lead the Broncos attack, combining for 34 points and 12 rebounds per outing to go with their exceptional three-point shooting. Clearly, MU will have to defend the perimeter well to win the game tonight.