Marquette forward Henry Ellenson gets a slam dunk against Georgetown during the first half. Credit: Associated Press

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Starting next week, every game will be win or go home. On Saturday, Marquette and Butler will get a taste of that pressure with different yet important stakes.

The Nos. 4-8 seeds of the Big East tournament remain up in the air heading into the final day of the regular season Saturday. Four teams, including Marquette and Butler, which play at 1:30 p.m. at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, can finish as high as fourth.

There are numerous ways the standings can shake out based on tiebreaking procedures, but for the Golden Eagles (19-11, 8-9 Big East) and Bulldogs (20-9, 9-8) the bottom line is quite clear. The winner will get a bye to the quarterfinals of the conference tournament; the loser will finish no better than seventh and will have to play opening night Wednesday at Madison Square Garden in New York.

"It would be a heck of a thing for our group," Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski said of finishing in the top half of the league. "Butler, first of all they're a terrific team and they're especially terrific at home, but if we were able to get 20 wins and finish in the top half of the Big East, I think that'd be pretty darn good."

While the stakes are well known, there's still plenty of uncertainty surrounding Marquette, most of which stems from the questionable availability of forward Henry Ellenson.

Ellenson sprained his left ankle with 7 minutes 20 seconds remaining in Tuesday night's victory over Georgetown. The standout freshman, who leads the team with 16.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per game, didn't return to the sideline after heading to the locker room and on Wednesday the program announced his status is considered day-to-day.

With or without Ellenson, who scored 32 points when Butler visited the BMO Harris Bradley Center in January, Wojciechowski doesn't expect any letdown from his team.

"We'll adjust as a team," Wojciechowski said. "My main concern is Henry and his health. ... If he's able to come back there's no better (people) to prepare him for that than our medical staff. If he's not able to, if it's not the right thing for his health, then we have to adjust. There's no excuses, next man up."

The Golden Eagles got a taste of playing without Ellenson on Tuesday night. Immediately after Ellenson went down Georgetown went on a 6-0 run to cut Marquette's advantage to one.

That's when Wojciechowski called timeout to calm his players down.

"It's a huge learning opportunity," said junior center Luke Fischer, who went on to be the hero of the game by making a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds left.

"Henry is such a big key to our team. When he went down we needed some extra motivation. At first I think we were a little scared. We didn't know what was going to happen with our best player out, but our guys responded very well and we were able to finish at the end."

With Ellenson in the locker room and freshman center Matt Heldt still sidelined by a left knee sprain he suffered Feb. 22 in practice, Marquette didn't have any choice other than going small for the final stretch against Georgetown. Wojciechowski surrounded Fischer with four guards — Traci Carter, Haanif Cheatham, Duane Wilson and Jajuan Johnson — with Johnson, who is 6 feet 5 inches and 195 pounds, essentially playing power forward.

Marquette certainly gave up some interior presence and rebounding, but it also created some mismatches at the other end. Matched up against a bigger, slower forward, Johnson in particular found success in driving to the hoop for a couple critical late baskets.

That is the kind of matchup Fischer expects Marquette will need to find against Butler if Ellenson is unable to play.

"We'd be guard-oriented at that point," he said. "I mean, we'd have four guards on the floor so we definitely would be spacing a lot more and I think dribble-attack and drive and kicks would be a huge part, even more than we do now. Hopefully, that's not the case but if it is I can see that working."

There's never a good time for an injury, especially one to a player as central to a team's success as is Ellenson, but if he is unable to play Wojciechowski believes his team is ready for the challenge.

"I think we've gotten better, over the continuum of the whole year we've pretty much been on an upward trajectory," Wojciechowski said. "There's been times where we've been knocked to the floor, but the one thing this team has shown is they got off the mat. There's no quit in them."

Big East tournament seeding possibilities

How Marquette finishes fourth

MU win over Butler, Providence loss to St. John's, Creighton loss to Xavier

How Marquette finishes fifth

MU win plus loss by either Providence or Creighton

How Marquette finishes sixth

MU win over Butler plus wins by Providence and Creighton

How Marquette finishes seventh

MU loss plus Georgetown loss to Villanova

How Marquette finishes eighth

MU loss plus Georgetown win