Tip is still several hours away, but considering how UConn handled Georgetown, the marquee game is quite likely being saved for last.

Who knows what the drama will come from St. John’s v. Rutgers and Cincinnati v. South Florida, but you can be confident two teams are going to play their posteriors off when West Virginia plays Marquette.

Neither team knows any other way, to be honest, but WVU is defending a title and Marquette is playing for a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Up goes the ante.

The Golden Eagles had the first day’s most impressive performance and WVU fans I’ve interacted with were and are spooked. I get that. I also tried to help them get the concept that Providence came out impossibly flat for a coach who might be gone soon. The Friars also don’t, or can’t, guard or rebound.

Those are things you can’t say about WVU on just about any day. The Mountaineers can win, of course, and there are a few things to monitor during what you know is going to be a close game.

1. Go hard: Jim Calhoun offered up a pretty telling quote Tuesday, unsolicited, about Maruette. “Marquette doesn’t take a play off. They’re a son-of-a-gun to play.”

He couldn’t be more correct. The Golden Eagles were releneltess last night and realized their energy was superior. In the New Year’s Day against WVU, the same was true. They got to what seemed like every loss ball and won the 50/50 plays.

WVU has to be strong with the ball around its basket — putbacks, layups, post-ups — and be ready to guard as soon as its possession ends. Marquette will get the ball and go and go hard.

That said, Coach Buzz Williams has a high level of respect for WVU. “I think they play incredibly hard. They’re the hardest playing team in the country, you could argue.”

Believe this: Both teams are ready for a rumble.

2. Don’t be trapped

Marquette has a bunch of similarly sized players and they can guard across the floor with a good level of continuity. There are switches without hesitation and because of that there are traps in corners and along sidelines. That really, really hurt WVU the first time the two teams played.

Traps cause turnovers, turnovers cause momentum and Marquette is good when it gets rolling. The Mountaineers can’t give the opposition a lot of live ball turnovers and expect to keep the Big East’s highest scoring offense under control.

3. Start fast … or, at least, not miserably

The true danger of the first-round bye is you play a team that won the day before and will have confidence, but also none of the rust you have. WVU had three days off, which isn’t a terribly long gap, but Marquette played very well last night and got out with a 21-point win.

Marquette also led 17-0 and while you might not see something quite as dramatic, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the team that played yesterday (and played great at the start) to be sharp early while the team coming off a break sputters.

To that, the Golden Eagles led WVU 9-0 in the first game and started 15-for-20 from the floor.

4. Guard the 3

Marquette has a sharshooter in Dright Buycks (46.3 percent form 3-point range in Big East play) and Johnson-Odom can get hot, too. He shot 37.9 percent against the Big East and was 3-for-6 against Providence.

Yet WVU guards the 3 better than anyone in the Big East. One reason Marquette got going last night was a 5-for-6 start from 3-point range. Then Providence woke up and the Golden Eagles finished 7-for-15, which is still good, but not as hot. They were the fourth-best 3-point team in the Big East, but only 5-for-13 against WVU in January.

5. Preserve the Butler name

Da’Sean Butler won last year’s game against  Marquette with a tricky step-back jumper at the buzzer. Marquette’s Jimmy Butler had the best all-around game Tuesday with 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

He’s a smart, sooth and efficient player (he shot 5-for-8) and does a lot of things to help the offense go. Yet WVU did a good job against him last time and kept him from doing anything in the first half. Maybe the Mountaineers can make that a two-half thing this time.

6. Bench up

WVU doesn’t score a lot and doesn’t rely much on its bench, but Casey Mitchell  is a big part of both initiatives. The Mountaineers were 12-3 in the regular season when they had the more productive bench, but Marquette’s reserves outscored Providence’s 30-8 and that’s the biggest reason there were only brief ruts.

WVU knows bench bully Jae Crowder very well, of course, but Davante Gardner didn’t play the last time. He’s a 6-foot-8, 290 (ish) pound bull on the blocks and had nine points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes against the Friars. He can give WVU fits down low if the Golden Eagles need to lean on him.