Marquette, Stanford clash in battle of contrasting styles

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- It will be a battle between Marquette's backcourt against Stanford's frontcourt in a second-round clash of the NCAA Tournament South Regional on Saturday.

The sixth-seeded Golden Eagles (25-9) are coming off a 74-66 victory over Kentucky on Thursday, led by 48 points from its three starting guards.

Jerel McNeal scored 20 points while Dominic James and Wesley Matthews added 15 and 13, respectively, to lead Marquette to its first tournament win since 2003.

"This team's been in the NCAA Tournament for three years, but we've never - we were young," Marquette coach Tom Crean said. "I mean, they're growing up, they're mature. They understand how to win. They understand how to do things and they understand how to correct themselves, and I think that's very, very important."

The guard-oriented Golden Eagles will have their work cut out for them against the 7-foot Lopez twins and Stanford's more deliberate style of play.

The third-seeded Cardinal (27-7) are coming off a 77-53 victory over Cornell on Thursday, after leading by 21 points at the half.

Kenny Brown scored 18 points and Robin Lopez added 14 as Stanford overcame 19 turnovers with 55 percent (31-of-56) shooting. Leading scorer Brook Lopez had just four points while battling foul trouble for most of the game.

"We're going to have to limit transition baskets," Stanford coach Trent Johnson said. "We got our work cut out for us. They want to play fast. They want to pull out of pressure. It's going to be interesting."

The winner will move on to the regional semifinals to face either Texas or Miami next Thursday.

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