Game preview: Marquette

Villanova will be looking for revenge Wednesday night when it travels to Marquette to take on the Golden Eagles. Of course, it was Marquette who ended Villanova’s six-game winning streak with a 57-54 win at the Finn on January 19.

“Really tough game coming up,” Jay Wright said. “These guys are really good. We have great respect for how they play.”

Since that game, Marquette has gone 2-1, winning at home against Xavier and on the road at Seton Hall. The Golden Eagles suffered a narrow 65-63 loss to Providence on Sunday. The Golden Eagles come into Wednesday’s game with a 15-7 record overall and a 7-4 mark in the Big East.

Looking at the last meeting between the teams one issue jumps off the page: the 3-point line. Marquette rained down 13 3s on ‘Nova, hitting 44.8% and building a 21-point advantage from beyond the arc. In a game that was decided by three points, that’s a remarkable edge.

It’s safe to say the ‘Cats are aware of the issue.

“I think that’s definitely something that we’ve been practicing, something that’s at the top of our scout,” Jordan Longino said. “It’s definitely a top priority for us.”

Wright thinks that part of the 3-point issue was due to Villanova turnovers on the offensive end. The Wildcats committed 10 turnovers in that matchup, not a terrible number but a bit high for ‘Nova. More importantly, Wright thinks that some of those turnovers came at particularly inopportune times.

“They really did a good job of spreading us out,” Wright said. “And some of them were in transition against our turnovers.”

“We gotta take care of the basketball,” Wright continued. “Our turnovers hurt us down the stretch the most.”

While it sounds weird to say about a game in which Villanova gave up 13 3s, the ‘Cats really weren’t that bad defensively. Marquette shot just 8-22 form 2-point range and the 57 points were the third fewest the Golden Eagles have scored through 22 games this season. The 13 3s (deservedly) garner much of the attention, but that eye-catching number served to blur an otherwise decent defensive effort and to mask a below average offensive night.

The ‘Cats were just 16-34 from 2-point range while shooting 25% from beyond the arc. The 54 points scored by ‘Nova were the team’s second-lowest output of the season.

“I think the one thing that stood out for us was just making the correct play on offense,” Jermaine Samuels said. “I think that we had times where we were a little stagnant and we had a couple errors.”

Marquette did a nice job of preventing Villanova from getting into its sets, leading to some disrupted possessions and forcing a lot of Villanova’s offense to be played late in the shot clock.

The Golden Eagles have a plethora of weapons, but it was Justin Lewis and Greg Elliott who really hurt the Cats a few weeks ago. Lewis poured in 21 points, hitting 5-8 from beyond the arc including the game-winner. Elliott came off the bench to score 14 points, hitting 5-8 overall and 4-6 from 3.

“We gotta defend Lewis a little bit better,” Wright said. “But they’ve got other scorers too.”

There’s one other quirk about Wednesday night’s game: the 10 p.m. ET start time. The message from player leadership is that it doesn’t matter.

“To us no, it doesn’t matter,” Samuels said of the start time. “We’ve done games early in the morning, games late at night, so whenever the ball is tipped off it’s time to go, no excuses.”

Wright was slightly less diplomatic but is hopeful the odd start time is something that can potentially help the ‘Cats down the road.

“I hate those late games,” Wright said. “But you have to play them in the NCAA tournament so it’s actually good experience. If we’re fortunate enough to make the NCAA tournament, sometimes in the Big East tournament you play a late game like this, you’ve got that routine down so as much as I don’t like, it it’s a good experience for us.”

The intensity should be through the roof. The Golden Eagles will be looking to get the bad taste of Sunday’s close loss to Providence out of their mouths while trying to stay within striking distance of the top of the conference. Villanova, meanwhile, will be looking to avenge that earlier loss to the Golden Eagles while aiming to keep pace with Providence at the top of the Big East standings. The ‘Cats could also open a three-game lead over Marquette, creating some distance as the schedule winds down.

It will be interesting to see how things play out. As mentioned, the game is scheduled for a 10 p.m. tip on FS1.

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