Marquette Road Woes Continue
Marquette was easily beaten by the UConn Huskies today, 89-73. Don't let the 16 point gap fool you. This game wasn't close. When down by 29, Marquette scored 35 points, nearly half their total, in the final 9 minutes to narrow the gap.
Marquette's shooting woes continued for the first 30 minutes of the game, shooting around 28%. As UConn had a 20+ point lead, MU hit a number of late 3 pointers to make their final numbers a respectable 40% from the field and 47% from long range.Road wins are tough to come by in the Big East.
43 games have been played, only 9 visitors have left the court with a victory. And 5 of those wins were against the 4 worst teams in the BE. We were 3 point underdogs, on the road, half of us predicted this as a loss, and surprise, we lost.
HOWEVER. Marquette's performance during the last two games, road games indeed, has been dismal. UL shot 49% and UConn 54%. MU has been out-rebounded 5 straight games now, with a whopping -11 today. Our game of slash to the basket hasn't worked with enough efficiency to actually win games. Ooze and Burke have a grand total of zero points, 7 rebounds, and 11 fouls between them in the last two games.
In short, while our last two games have been on the road and were expected losses, it's the way we've lost that's most troubling.
Marquette has 6 days off, then plays DePaul on Saturday night at the Bradley Center.
AP Recap / Box / Play by Play
http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2008/01/marquette-road-woes-continue.html
Why is UConn an expected loss? They are at best a borderline NCAA team this year. They hadn't beaten a team as good as us this year.
Vegas had us as a 3 point underdog. I realize that's only meant as a way to get money on both sides, but it does give insight as to the collective belief of all bettors, that MU was expected to lose.