Marquette: 13-4
Kenpom Rating: 15
Overall Strength of Schedule: 34th (162nd hardest non-con)
Best win:
- 96-70 v #23 Baylor
- Olivier-Maxence Prosper (24 points, 3-4 from 3)
- Kam Jones (20 points, 4 assists, 4-7 from 3)
- David Joplin (19 points, 3-4 from 3)
Worst loss (no “awful” losses):
- Regulation losses: @ Purdue by five & vs Mississippi State (neutral) by three
- OT losses: v Wisconsin by three and 2OT loss @ Providence by five
Currently on a four game winning streak with wins over Seton Hall, Villanova, St. John’s and Georgetown
OFFENSE: 6th in efficiency
- 3rd in 2p% (60.5%)
- 11th in quickest possession length (15.3 seconds/possession)
- 23rd in lowest turnover rate (15.6)
- 31st in A/FGM (59.4%)
- 95th in 3PA/FGA (41.1%)
- 102nd in 3p% (35.3%)
- Bottom third nationally in
- FT% (69.9%)
- FTA/FGA (27.1%)
- Offensive rebounding rate (26.7%)
DEFENSE: 81th in efficiency
- 19th in steal rate (13.4%)
- 19th in forcing offenses to use clock (18.5 seconds/possession)
- 50th in OFT% (67.1%)
- ~Median in
- FTA/FGA (29.7%)
- 2P% (49.8%)
- 3PA/FGA (38.4%)
- Bottom-third in
- Defensive rebounding rate
- 3P% (34.8%)
- Bottom-quarter in
Last season, Marquette’s offense was exciting, but in Year 2 of the Shaka Smart era, with the players a little bit older and with more time together they now look like a smooth offensive team (more about their pieces a bit later) that has figured out how to play fast and in control.
Defensively, they’ve got some holes. 6’9 215 junior big Oso Ighodaro is a great rim protector, works hard and puts himself in good position, but thicker bigs like Soriano (22 points) and Croswell (20 points) have used their size to their advantage and I expect Sanogo to continue his strong performance from this weekend.
Kam Jones is a crafty scorer, but is not a strong defender while Tyler Kolek looks better on defense this year than last, he often looks all over the place. Olivier-Maxence Prosper has the length and athleticism to help him become a good defender, but analytics show weaknesses on that end.
As mentioned earlier, I like our bigs matching up with Ighodaro’s lack of size and Kolek’s defensive efficiencies could help Newton and/or Hawkins to continue their strong play.
If there were ever a game I’d love for Samson Johnson to be back, it would be this game. Prosper is a dangerous offensive forward who is a legit three-level scorer and Johnson’s length and athleticism would help limit Prosper’s upside more so than Karaban.
One thing I really like about Marquette is the variety of tempos their guards bring, so UConn needs to be ready for that: Kam Jones gets buckets and never looks hurried while Sean Jones is arguably the fastest guard in the Big East. Mitchell, while not an elite athlete, is super controlled in transition. A frenetic defender like Diarra should shine on the defensive end against Marquette.
In the gauntlet of the Big East, this is the last of a five-game stretch where each game was projected to be close, while the following six games after this one allow for some breathing room (St. John’s, Seton Hall, Butler, Xavier, DePaul and Georgetown).
Like Xavier and Providence before, I am expecting a hard-fought game with the final score in our favor if the Huskies slow down Marquette just enough to force them into halfcourt situations.
