Marquette Game

[Piratz]

I actually like us in this game despite the fact that it is on the road. I do not like the fact that will have not played in nearly 10 days by the time we tip off on Wednesday, but expect there to be a lot of juice and excitement being it's the Big East opener so maybe that offsets the layoff, who knows.

Marquette's been a bit up and down. They're also a bit inexperienced - starting 3 freshmen, I believe - and working in many new faces, resulting in some turnover issues. Granted, they've got a talented frontcourt with Ellenson and Fischer that could give us fits, but our guys are tough too. Especially if we can rebound against the zone of the offense end as that is something we do very well.

We can hold our own there, I think.

 

[hallgrad80]

I actually like us in this game despite the fact that it is on the road. I do not like the fact that will have not played in nearly 10 days by the time we tip off on Wednesday, but expect there to be a lot of juice and excitement being it's the Big East opener so maybe that offsets the layoff, who knows.

Marquette's been a bit up and down. They're also a bit inexperienced - starting 3 freshmen, I believe - and working in many new faces, resulting in some turnover issues. Granted, they've got a talented frontcourt with Ellenson and Fischer that could give us fits, but our guys are tough too. Especially if we can rebound against the zone of the offense end as that is something we do very well.

We can hold our own there, I think.

Ellenson may be a freshman but he's not playing like one and he's generally considered a one and done player. This may be a game where our depth up front may be a real plus , which even sounds unfamiliar to me to be saying.

 

[shupat08]

Didn't Delgado do a good job on Fischer last year? If our 3/4/5 positions can rotate successfully in help D we should be able to contain Fischer and Ellenson inside... Ish and Mike need to cover Ellenson 15ft out to 21ft. Can they do that??

 

[pmulcahy96]

I really hope this team remembers the feeling they had on the court after the BE tourney loss. Hopefully payback is in the cards. Should be a very good game.

 

[Seton75]

I love both of Mq's big guys, but I am liking our defense and hope it can cause some pressure and make it hard to get to them in good spots. Fisher seems very good at offensive rebounds and Ellenson seems very good at everything. But I am optimistic.

 

[Pirate Russ]

I know it is the opening game of the Big East Season, but I almost think this is a must win. For us to make the tournament, I think we need 10 big east wins. I really have a hard time finding 10 wins unless we sweep St Johns, DePaul, and either Marquette or Creighton. Therefore, unless we think we can win again at Creighton, I really think we need to steal this one at Marquette. I realize it is a long season, but our opportunities for road wins are very slim. As a result, i really think we need this one.

 

[68Pirate]

The past few years we take it on the chin in these type of games..it is time our guys take it to Marquette and claim to all we are in biz and covet a winning record this season.

 

[SHUBK]

I think it will be a tight game, it will all depend on ability to stop ellison. Unless he is switching defenses, I think they will play that 1-3-1 extended zone which can be hard to play against since you don't see it all that much. We will need to hit shots, which im not all the confident in ability to do that yet. Should be a good test for us, and will show how much the team has truly matured. I Still think we can win a grind it out game something like 72-70 ish range

 

[TheBluePirate]

I know it is the opening game of the Big East Season, but I almost think this is a must win. For us to make the tournament, I think we need 10 big east wins. I really have a hard time finding 10 wins unless we sweep St Johns, DePaul, and either Marquette or Creighton. Therefore, unless we think we can win again at Creighton, I really think we need to steal this one at Marquette. I realize it is a long season, but our opportunities for road wins are very slim. As a result, i really think we need this one.

I have been thinking along these same lines.

 

[mjs428]

We played well there last year..

 

[Piratz]

We played well there last year..

We did. It was fueled by one of those crazy 3PT shooting nights.

But the games at The Rock and in the BET at MSG were miserable. Worst of the season. They out-toughed us and pushed us around.

 

[Fzacsattac]

I just watched their most recent game and was not overly impressed with Ellenson. Sanogo needs to be on him constantly especially when he moves out towards the perimeter. Their other big, Fischer, is the one that looked real sharp in the game. He has improved quite a bit since I saw him last year.

If we can contain Fischer and Ellenson to 25 points or less we win.

 

[Piratz]

What I like about our forwards is they can be "pesky" because they're quite mobile and athletic. We really need to rely on this factor tomorrow night as MU likes to move the ball around.

 

[Section112]

This is gonna be a tight game. Can we make the big play or get the big stop in crunch time? I think we can. SHU 65 MU 64.

 

[Seton75]

If we can contain Fischer and Ellenson to 25 points or less we win.[/QUOTE]
Ellenson is good, 6'10 with three skills. I do think Sanogo might be a good match for him. Fisher is a tough player, good around the hoop. I can see both giving our big guys a hard time due to size. I hope our quickness and pressure on their guards can neutral them somewhat.

Ellenson and Fischer have scored 25 or more in all but the Iowa game when Mq didn't show up. They usually score closer to 35. I think we have to control the other three spots rather than thinking we are shutting down these two guys, though stopping them would be a great way to win.

 

[Burnsly]

The first Big East game of the year is a must win? You can't be serious.

 

[Piratz]

The BE opener is always a big night. That arena in Marquette will be packed - as usual - and thumping. This is a really great opportunity for the staff and players to get the conference season off on the right foot.

We also have not been in that kind of environment yet this year. I think that could be a factor in all of this because our team occasionally struggles with rushing and trying to do too much on their own as they mature as a unit.

 

[NYC Pirate]

I think this is a very tough first BigEast game of the season. I wish we had this one at Prudential
to start because I would say SHU all the way.

My problem is taking a still developing team to a pretty tough venue in Milwaukee. I believe our returning players may be able to keep us in the game, but how about the other guys?? Not sure. We should be rested and guys can log huge minutes if they stay out of foul trouble. Our frontcourt may have an athletic advantage over Marquette, but fundamentally it could be an issue on the defensive side. We should be able to rebound well in this one.

Marquette usually seems to hit big shots against the Hall when they play at Marquette. I'm not sure that
they have those tough future NBA guys on the squad as they had when Buzz Williams was their coach. Those kids were mentally tough and it helped them pull out many a victory against us.

I'd say Marquette will win by 4-6 points. I won't be shocked if Seton Hall pulls it out.

 

[mbraue]

I think this is a very tough first BigEast game of the season. I wish we had this one at Prudential
to start because I would say SHU all the way.

My problem is taking a still developing team to a pretty tough venue in Milwaukee. I believe our returning players may be able to keep us in the game, but how about the other guys?? Not sure. We should be rested and guys can log huge minutes if they stay out of foul trouble. Our frontcourt may have an athletic advantage over Marquette, but fundamentally it could be an issue on the defensive side. We should be able to rebound well in this one.

Marquette usually seems to hit big shots against the Hall when they play at Marquette. I'm not sure that
they have those tough future NBA guys on the squad as they had when Buzz Williams was their coach. Those kids were mentally tough and it helped them pull out many a victory against us.

I'd say Marquette will win by 4-6 points. I won't be shocked if Seton Hall pulls it out.

This will be a very tough win. Marquette leads the Big East with 18.8 assists per game and also leads the league in steals, with 8.6 per game. I also think they're tops in defensive rebounding. Our offense is so helter-skelter - just hope defensive tenacity and athleticism on the offensive end can keep us close. Hopefully Willard looked at a lot of film from that travesty at MSG when Marquette made us look like a CYO team.

 

[Shuathelete]

. Hopefully Willard looked at a lot of film from that travesty at MSG when Marquette made us look like a CYO team.

He didnt. he said he just forgot about it and doesnt bring it up because hes a coward. should be letting it fuel them to return the favor. im just hoping he stays on the court for the full 40 minutes this time.

 

[General_Tso]

Last year at their place I believe we shot lights out and went up about 20 points. Wojo then switched the defense against us and they stormed back in that game and beat us 2 more times.

Hopefully since we don't have to sit through games with Gibbs and Sina pounding the ball into the ground around the perimeter we can adjust to the defense and set our tone to this game.

 

[mjs428]

Sina actually played really well in both games against Marquette last yr. obvs didn't play in the BET game

 

[HallX2]

I believe the Jesuits are 3.5 faves over the diocesians.

 

[catholicman]

We pounded Marquette when they played zone against us last year. But in the second half of our win against them, Wojo adjusted the defense and made it a much closer finish than it should have been. He continued the same defensive strategy in the next two games and destroyed us. This year, since we aren't so much of a perimeter shooting team, I suspect he is going to pack the inside to stop penetration. I still think we should try to take it to the hoop to get their bigs in foul trouble and because it is our strength. But good outside shooting could help.

Meanwhile, we could have a hard time defending them, as they are great inside and have some very good outside shooters. Defending the three is a weakness of ours. And we haven't been so good against big front lines.

However, Marquette turns the ball over a lot. They did so against inferior competition. Therefore, we should try to pressure the ball a lot and set up some traps.

 

[Halldan1]

Defending the three is a weakness of ours.

Teams are only hitting 32.6% against us from the arc.

That's not bad. The D1 average is 34.3%

 

[General_Tso]

Sina actually played really well in both games against Marquette last yr. obvs didn't play in the BET game

That game winning shot he took at home was "really well"...I think it was actually 2 awful shots. That was the start of the downslide

 

[mjs428]

Gibbs took the game winning shot & missed

 

[catholicman]

Teams are only hitting 32.6% against us from the arc.

That's not bad. The D1 average is 34.3%

Granted, against very weak competition (except for Baruch), we did pretty well in 3 pt. defense. However, against better competition we were awful, giving up 44.4% to Long Beach State, 46.7 % to Wichita State, and 35.7 % to George Washington. Of the better competition we did well against Georgia, holding them to 25%, but that number was skewed because one of their power forwards, Djurisic, kept taking ill-advised three's and went 0-6!

 

[Halldan1]

Granted, against very weak competition (except for Baruch), we did pretty well in 3 pt. defense. However, against better competition we were awful, giving up 44.4% to Long Beach State, 46.7 % to Wichita State, and 35.7 % to George Washington. Of the better competition we did well against Georgia, holding them to 25%, but that number was skewed because one of their power forwards, Djurisic, kept taking ill-advised three's and went 0-6!

You're being selective.

When did Long Beach State become strong competition? They were a bad loss to a low ranked team.

At this juncture in the OOC games most all high D1 teams have played a much weaker schedule than they will moving forward in conference play.

Plus the lower ranked teams play much better competition so their numbers are skewered in the opposite direction meaning they reduce the national average.

Simply put the numbers to date concerning SHU are representative of their defensive play.


1 Xavier 30.1

2 Butler 30.7

3 Marquette 31.4

4 SHU 32.6

5 Nova 32.7

6 DePaul 33.2

7 Georgetown 34.7

8 Providence 34.8

9 St John's 36.1

10 Creighton 36.3

 

[49ers10]

Just win tonight, everything else will take care of itself.

 

[catholicman]

Long Beach State is ranked at 140 in Ken Pom's power rankings. They were one of the better teams we played. They also have a pretty high RPI. I selected our 3 pt. defensive stats against the BETTER teams we played in our weak schedule. The only one I omitted was Mississippi, who are ranked at 69 by Ken Pom. We held Mississippi to 23.8 % from 3. I didn't include Mississippi because I don't think they are too good.

 

[Fzacsattac]

If we can contain Fischer and Ellenson to 25 points or less we win.

Ellenson is good, 6'10 with three skills. I do think Sanogo might be a good match for him. Fisher is a tough player, good around the hoop. I can see both giving our big guys a hard time due to size. I hope our quickness and pressure on their guards can neutral them somewhat.

Ellenson and Fischer have scored 25 or more in all but the Iowa game when Mq didn't show up. They usually score closer to 35. I think we have to control the other three spots rather than thinking we are shutting down these two guys, though stopping them would be a great way to win.[/QUOTE]

Well they showed up for our game but could not handle our defense tonight. Holding both guys to 25 is incredible work by our guys.