Both No. 9 Marquette men’s basketball and Xavier opened conference play Wednesday night, and while the Golden Eagles soared to victory over Butler, the Musketeers were bested in overtime by No. 11 UConn.
Marquette (10-2, 1-0 Big East) will now travel to Cincinnati, Ohio to take on Xavier (8-4, 0-1 Big East), who is 7-0 at home so far this season. The Golden Eagles have won five of their last six meetings against the Musketeers.
Crashing the boards and taking care of the ball
In their 80-70 win over the Bulldogs, the Golden Eagles shot just 20 percent (6-of-30) from 3-point range, but still came out on top, thanks to their rebounding effort and lack of turnovers.
Marquette earned 20 offensive boards, its most under head coach Shaka Smart. It won the rebounding battle 38-27 and earned 28 second chance points.
“Offensive rebounds, that’s just an effort thing,” Mitchell said after the win. “So, it’s nice that the number reflects the effort we wanted to bring into tonight’s game, and just the spirit we wanted to have and just the ability to win ugly.”
The Golden Eagles also took care of the ball, committing just two turnovers, something they hadn’t done since 2011. They now average 9.1 turnovers per game, which ranks seventh in the nation.
While Marquette needs to continue to build on these two factors, senior guard Kam Jones must also avoid foul trouble on Saturday.
According to EvanMiya.com, the Memphis, Tennessee native is the most indispensable player in the country. Marquette’s last road game showed what happens when Jones is off the floor, and if he finds himself on the bench for an extended period of time, their chance of winning against Xavier plummets.
Xavier down on its luck
The Musketeers head into the matchup having lost their last two games and their leading scorer, Zach Freemantle, who has been sidelined indefinitely.
The graduate student forward, who missed the final 15 games of the 2022-23 campaign and all of the following season due to injury, was averaging a team-high 16.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game on 54.4 percent shooting before suffering a lower-body injury in last Saturday’s loss to Cincinnati.
Despite being without Freemantle, the Musketeers had their best offensive performance of the year in their loss to the Huskies, shooting 54.2 percent from beyond the arc and 50 percent from the floor. Junior guard Ryan Conwell (23 pts) and graduate student guard Dante Maddox (season-best 22 points) combined for 45 points, two players that Marquette needs to keep an eye on.
However, UConn exploited Xavier in the paint, earning 50 points there, grabbing 14 offensive rebounds and earning 13 second chance points. If Marquette can build on its rebounding performance against Butler, it will have a chance to move to 2-2 on the road.
How to follow
Watch: FOX will feature the broadcast with Brandon Gaudin (play-by-play) and Robbie Hummel (analyst) on the call. Tip-off is scheduled for 11 a.m. CST.
Live updates: Follow @MatthewBaltzMU and @MUWireSports on Twitter/X.
Listen: 94.5 ESPN Milwaukee and Sirius XM.
This preview was written by Kaylynn Wright. She can be reached at kaylynn.wright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @KaylynnWrightMU.