[Cracked Sidewalks] Rutgers Numbers Recap

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Rutgers Numbers Recap

Written by: Henry Sugar

Just a quick recap of the numbers for Rutgers, as there is only a short turnaround for tomorrow's big matchup with Villanova.  We'll keep it at a team level this evening... no individual recaps tonight.  (Although it should be no surprise that McNeal was the statistical stud of the game for the third game in the row)

Four Factors Review




Yup - when you win by 30 you tend to dominate all aspects of the game.  Just as the St. John's Free Throw Rate of 93% was garbage, I have to say that the FTR for Rutgers is also garbage.  At least the referees were somewhat consistent in this one, because it's not like Marquette shot a whole lot of free throws either.  Marquette's defense was in full effect, pushing Rutgers to 31.3% turnover rate... or a turnover one out of every three trips down the court.

Continuing to Trend in the Right Directions



The team continues to trend in the right direction.  Now, certainly the stellar offensive and defensive performances against Rutgers helped boost these trend lines, but remember that the lines above also reflect a moving 5-game average.  Clearly, the next three games will be a better reflection of how the team is trending, but for now we are hitting on all cylinders.

Current Adjusted Offensive and Defensive Ratings are 113.8 and 88.6, respectively.  Those numbers suggest a team that goes 17-1 in conference... which is a nice way of looking at how well the team is playing over the last five games.

And Doing it With Consistency



As we had previously discussed, one of the big concerns for Marquette was their inconsistency.  Well, MU continues to play at a high level and do it at a consistent rate.  It is not as if MU is winning with high risk strategies, which should be very good news for MU fans.

But it's not all Seashells and Balloons




Unfortunately, there is one negative trend appearing for Marquette.  There was a long stretch where Marquette's Offensive Rebounding Percentage (OR%) was improving and our opponents' OR% was declining.  For right now, those trends are both heading in the wrong direction.  We'll continue to monitor and see how things end up.  It's hard to grab a lot of offensive rebounds when you shoot 56% from the floor.

Check back tomorrow morning for the Cracked Sidewalks preview of the Villanova game.

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