No. 6 UConn Huskies Marquette Golden Eagles
11-2 (2-0) 9-3 (1-0)
Date: Wednesday, January 1st 2025
Time: 2:00 PM
Where: Al McGuire Center
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
TV: SNY
Web: Foxsports.com
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MARQUETTE | UCONN
UCONN LEADS 20-1 H: 8-0 | A: 8-1 | N: 4-0
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.
02/05/21 #3 UConn 87, Marquette 58 Milwaukee, Wis.
03/01/21 #1 UConn 63, Marquette 53 Storrs, Conn.
03/08/21 #1 UConn 73, Marquette 39 Uncasville, Conn.
02/13/22 #8 UConn 72, Marquette 58 Milwaukee, Wis.
02/23/22 #7 UConn 69, Marquette 38 Hartford, Conn.
03/06/22 #7 UConn 71, Marquette 51 Uncasville, Conn.
12/31/22 #8 UConn 61, Marquette 48 Storrs, Conn.
02/08/23 Marquette 59, #4 UConn 52 Milwaukee, Wis.
03/05/23 #9 UConn 81, Marquette 52 Uncasville, Conn.
12/31/23 #15 UConn 95, #18 Marquette 64 Hartford, Conn.
01/23/24 #8 UConn 85, Marquette 59 Milwaukee, Wis.
03/10/24 #9 UConn 58, Marquette 29 Uncasville, Conn.
Marquette Season to Date
Although Marquette is 9-3 on the season, they haven't played much of a schedule. The best rated team (Massey) was No. 40 Illinois, who they lost to 65-53. They lost to Central Florida 57-50 in their season opener.
They then went on a 9-1 run, only losing to Bowling Green 64-62. Their best win of those 9 games was a 59-57 victory over Rutgers. The other games were all walkovers.
Marquette beat DePaul on the road 78-59 in their Big East opener.
Comparative Team Statistics
(leader in bold)
UConn Marquette
79.1 PPG 72.3
54.6 Defensive PPG 54.5
24.5 Scoring Margin 17.8
50.2 Field Goal % 44.3
36.9 Defensive FG% 33.9
35.0 Three Point % 30.5
32.8 Defensive 3PT% 26.6
67.7 Free Throw % 73.6
36.5 Rebounds/game 41.9
5.2 Rebounding Margin 8.8
21.2 Assists per game 18.2
11.9 Turnover per game 15.8
1.9 Assists/TO ratio 1.1
11.2 Steals per game 9.6
3.3 Blocks per game 5.1
It's unusual to see a Big East opponent with the advantage in so many categories. Strength of Schedule means so much here. UConn has the No. 5 SOS and Marquette is the 135th SOS. Huge diffence.
UCONN
The player and coaches names for both teams
are clickable to see their Bios
are clickable to see their Bios
UConn Starters
UConn Injuries
(In order of expected return)
Expected back mid-January
MARQUETTE
Marquette Starters
Marquette Bench
Game Analysis
Last season Marquette relied mostly on their starters. Nothing wrong with that. Except that this is not last season. All five starters are no longer with the team. So using any in games from last season to analyze the team makes no sense. Add to that, they have a new head coach in Cara Consuega. Consuega was an assistant coach at Marquette from 2004-11 and was 225-169 in 13 seasons at Charlotte with seven postseason appearances, including a NCAA tournament berth in 2022.
Last season leading scorer wa Lisa Karlen who transferred to Notre Dame. They will miss her big-time.
Mackenzie Hare transferred to Iowa State. She was their big three point threat. Another big loss.
Maybe the biggest loss was Jordan King. Her leadership and running the offense will me missed
The two main bench players from last year are now starters
6'3" Sophomore Skylar Forbes is the big in the starting lineup. Tall but not wide, she really runs the court well. She is averaging 15.3 PPG and 6.8 RPG. She is also the best three point shooter on the team hitting 37% on almost 5 takes per game and leads the team in blocks with 22.
Lee Volker is a 6'1" senior guard. She averages 14.3 PPG and 5.8 RPG. She certainly brings some size to the guard position. Volker also average 3 APG.
6'1" Sophomore Haile Vice is another big guard. She only played in 12 games last season. Vice is averaging 10.3 PPG and 6.5 RPG. She is second on the team in blocks with 15.
Jaidynn Mason is a 5'6" Junior transfer from Southern Illinois. She player very well for the Salukis Mason played in 53 games for the Salukis with 24 starts averaging 10.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.2 steals per game. She averaged 14.0 points per game as a sophomore in 2023-24. This season she is averaging 7.5 PPG.
The final starter is Charlotte transfer 5'8" Junior Guard Olivia Porter. The stocky guard averages 7.1 PPG but is really strugging with her shot. She is shooting 33.8 from the field and 25.7 on threes. She leads the team in assists with 40.
Off the bench, Marquette does have one big.
6'3" sophomore transfer from Georgia Tech Jada Bediako. She only played 9 games for the Yellow Jackets. For Marquette she is averaging 3.3 PPG and 3.9 MPG in 13.5 MPG.
One more transfer. 5'8" guard from Syracuse Kennedi Perkins gets close to 20 MPG. She is averaging 5.3 PPG and 2.8 RPG.
6'1" forward Abbey Cracknell played little last season and is getting 12.5 MPG. She is scoring only 2.1 PPG.
Defensively, the Golden Eagles play exclusively a man-to-man. They double any entry passes but are not that quick to get back out to the shooter. UConn will take advantage of that. I don't think The Golden Eagles have a player that can guard Strong so look for her to have a big game.
Offensively, there is a lot of one-on-one without a lot passing. There were many possessions where whoever had the ball, dribbled around and then made a move to the basket.
UConn will try to uptempo this game. They have been putting a lot of pressure on the ball and will run on almost every defensive rebound. New coach but Marquette still is very physical and hopefully no one gets hurt.
UConn moves the ball around quickly so there will be plenty of opportunities from beyond the arc.
Here is a video of their fourth quarter against Rutgers to give you an idea.
Prediction
So many changes for Marquette from last season. It's difficult enough to play as a team but with so many new players it's even harder. Marquette will try to slow things down. It's the only chance they have to keep it close.
They will fail. UConn will remember those really bad final three quarters against Providence and will keep the pressure on the Golden Eagles and run away with the game. Is this the game that El Alfy plays to her abilities?
UConn by 35+.
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