UConn vs Marquette
Day: Monday
Date: March 1st, 2021
Time: 8:00
Location: Storrs, Ct
TV: CBSSN
No. 1 UConn Huskies Marquette Golden Eagles
20-1 (17-0) 17-4 (14-3)
20-1 (17-0) 17-4 (14-3)
Prior Meetings
MARQUETTE | UCONN LEADS 10-0 H: 4-0 | A: 5-0 | N: 0-0
02/25/06 #8 UConn 74, Marquette 59 Storrs, Conn.
02/03/07 #3 UConn 52, Marquette 48 Milwaukee, Wis.
02/20/08 #1 UConn 95, Marquette 63 Hartford, Conn.
02/07/09 #1 UConn 83, Marquette 49 Milwaukee, Wis.
01/13/10 #1 UConn 68, Marquette 43 Milwaukee, Wis.
12/09/10 #1 UConn 79, Marquette 47 Storrs, Conn.
02/25/12 #4 UConn 85, Marquette 45 Milwaukee, Wis.
01/12/13 #3 UConn 85, Marquette 51 Milwaukee, Wis.
02/05/13 #3 UConn 94, Marquette 37 Storrs, Conn.
02/5/21 #3 UConn 87, Marquette 58, Milwaukee, Wis.
Marquette Overview
(game scores are clickable for more detail)
Marquette lost to DePaul in the game right after losing to UConn 87-82, and then won the next 5 games coming into this rematch with the Huskies. They beat Butler 77-48, Providence 73-52, Villanova 65-57, Creighton 65-41 and then in their rematch with DePaul and for second place in the conference, 85-71. They have proven without a doubt they are the second best team in the Big East.
Comparative Team Statistics
Leader in bold
UConn Marquette
83.5 PPG 73.6
52.0 Defensive PPG 61.7
31.5 Scoring Margin 11.9
52.0 Field Goal % 46.8
33.7 Defensive FG% 38.9
35.3 Three Point % 31.9
27.1 Defensive 3PT% 29,2
69.8 Free Throw % 71.0
41.6 Rebounds/game 40.7
11.4 Rebounding Margin 10.5
22.2 Assists per game 20.3
14.6 Turnover per game 15.4
1.5 Assists/TO ratio 1.3
10.1 Steals per game 8.0
5.9 Blocks per game 3.3
*******************************************************************
MARQUETTE
Marquette Starters
Marquette Bench
I always like rematches. You can actually see how the teams match up and who gets real minutes for the opponents.
Marquette is led by senior guard Selena Lott. She is clearly the best shooter on the team. Lott hit's 42% of her three pointers and she takes around 4 per game. Lott also get's to the line more than anyone else in Marquette. She has taken exactly the same amount of free throws as she does three pointers. And she hits 88% of her free throws. Just a really good shooter. Lott also leads the team in assists. She really struggled against UConn in the first game, scoring only 4 points going 1-7 from the field and 0-4 on threes.
Marquette's best big is No. 42 Lauren Van Kleunen. She is only 6'2" but is a wide shouldered young lady who knows how to use her body to carve out space in the post. She will take the intermediate jumper but of she gets the ball in the low post she knows how to finish. Her go to move is a little jump hook. Tough to stop. She was terrific in the first game, scoring 18 points on 9-13 shooting and grabbing 6 rebounds and handing out 4 assists.
Cameryn Taylosr is a a 6'2" forward who will physically remind you of Swin Cash. Certainly not as talented but to me her gait as she runs is so similar. She really runs the court well and is a good rebounder, using her jumping ability to grab rebounds out of her area. She had a double double in the first game, scoring 10 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
Jordan King is the other guard in the starting lineup. She is second on the team in assists but is not an offensive threat. Her shooting percentage across the board are really weak. Yet she still takes 10 shots per game. She had 4 points and 4 assists against the Huskies in the first game.
The final starter is 6'1" junior Chloe Marotta. A solid shooter, she doesn't take many out of her range, which is right around the basket. She is a pretty good defender as well. And she is the second best rebounder on the team. She had a team high 6 turnovers against UConn in the first match up.
The bench give Marquette some solid minutes, but none of the three players that get minutes are going to come in and change the trajectory of the game. I would expect the starters to get more than their average minutes in this one. They had 13 points in total in the first game.
Defensively, they Golden Eagles play exclusively a man to man. That could be a disaster if they don't do a good job switching off the screens. They didn't do a good job doing that in the first match up.
UConn was led by Paige Bueckers, who had 30 points in the middle game of the three where she scored 30+ points. Like they did in the first match up, UConn will try to uptempo this game. They will run on almost every defensive rebound. And they have the horses to do that. They seem to run even more with Nika Muhl in the starting lineup.
I thought they would try to get the ball into the post to Nelson-Ododa. But Marquette did a good job defending her. Their center used her body to push her out of the block. And they did a good job double teaming when the ball goes in to her. But I bet Olivia to have a bigger game. She did almost have a triple double with 8 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists.
Christyn Williams had a nice game going 8-12 from the field and scoring 18 points. She has been terrific in the games since these two teams last played. Well, except for the two games immediately following that game. 6 points in t two games. But she is on a roll the last 5 games. I would look for that to continue.
Evina Westbrook was solid in the first game. She had 7 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds. And she added 3 blocks. Oh, those long arms....
Edwards had an OK game in the first match up but she is on a roll and her size will make more of a difference in this game.
Griffin missed this first game with her knee issue, but I expect her to get solid minutes and make a big difference on the defensive end.
Final Prediction
UConn always does a great job against the players that did well in the first time they meet. In this game that would be Van Kleunen. I would expect more minutes for Edward to defend her. That will be a fun match up.
Marquette just doesn't have the offensive firepower to keep up with UConn and after playing against a hot shooting Butler team, UConn can just focus on playing good post defense. Lott is the only real three point threat.
UConn will be happy to play on the familiar home court at Gampel. I would bet they have a real good shooting game especially from the cold shooting Bueckers. Well, cold for her.
I called it a 15+ game last time. I was off be plenty. I won't make that mistake again.
UConn by 25+.
No comments:
Post a Comment