The Golden Eagles continue their trek through non-conference play by renewing their cross-town series with the Panthers.
Until we get to Big East play on Sunday, December 29th, I don’t have much to say about Marquette women’s basketball in terms of The State Of The Team Right Now kind of thing that I like to write in this part of the game previews. This was always going to be the part of the schedule that was going to turn into “Marquette toughs out the first part and then uses these games to iron out the wrinkles before league play starts.” That’s what they’re doing, perhaps right up to the point of me thinking that Marquette didn’t quite turn in their best possible performance while beating Indiana State by 16.
We’ve got three more non-conference games to get through including Sunday’s cross-town matchup, and the big thing for Cara Consuegra and her team, as has been the case for the last three contests, is to just keep getting better each and every time they take the court. November and December of this year was always going to be a “let’s find ourselves and our identity” situation, and so far, so good.
I do want to point something out that I think suggests that the Golden Eagles are starting to click as a cohesive unit.
Marquette has posted an offensive rebounding rate of at least 31% in their last five games, and they’ve been over 41% in each of the last four. As a result, MU’s season average in that department is up to 36.2%…. and that’s #71 in the country according to BartTorvik.com. 41% would be a top 20 in the country ranking if it was their season long number, by the way, and they’re averaging over that in the last four contests. Maybe they can’t keep that up all season long, but it is a notable improvement over their first two games when they couldn’t grab up even 24% of their misses for a second chance. As MU continues to come together on the offensive end of the floor, hustling after misses can be a way to not only extend possessions and make things harder for other teams, but a way to inch that offensive efficiency higher and higher. MU is trending in the right direction on that end of the floor, and if they can get the offense going a little bit better so the defense doesn’t need to perfect for 40 straight minutes, well, that’s a net positive for everyone in blue and gold.
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Game #9: vs Milwaukee Panthers (3-9, 0-3 Horizon League)
Date: Sunday, December 15, 2024
Time: 2pm Central
Location: Al McGuire Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: FloSports, with Josh Maurer and Chloe Marotta on the call
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteWBB
Marquette is 33-20 all time against Milwaukee. The Golden Eagles have won the last two in the series with the Panthers picking up a 64-55 victory in December 2020 aka The Weirdest College Basketball Season Ever. Milwaukee’s most recent win before that was back on New Year’s Eve 2008, and that one was also at the McGuire Center.
It’s gotten late in the season early at the Klotsche Center. Milwaukee started out the season just outside the top 200 in the BartTorvik.com preseason rankings, and the Horizon League’s preseason poll slotted the Panthers in at #4, somewhat comfortably ahead of Youngstown State in the five spot.
As you can see from the top of the section, Milwaukee is 3-6 in non-conference contests this year, which is only 2-6 against Division 1 teams thanks to a 74-49 home win over Carroll, and they have dropped their first three Horizon League games. Losing 111-46 at then-#10 Kansas State? Well, you signed up for those problems. Losing 86-53 at home to Green Bay for your third straight Horizon League loss, causing you to drop to #266 in the Torvik rankings as I type this on Thursday? Yeah, it’s not great on any level. The Green Bay loss isn’t really a problem, the Phoenix are picked to finish second this year and they’re habitually at the top of the conference. Losing 56-55 at Robert Morris when the Colonials were picked to finish last by a pretty solid margin…. and only doing it because you gave up two free throws with six seconds left after hitting a three-pointer with 14 ticks to go? Yeah, that’s bad.
Kacee Baumhower is leading the Panthers in scoring this season at just over 16 points per game. The 5’9” Wright State transfer is leading Milwaukee in three-point attempts this season with just short of 70 on the season, and she’s making just short of 40% of them. That’s pretty good! She’s not their most accurate shooter, as that title goes to Jada Donaldson. The 5’7” Beaver Dam native is continuing the hot shooting she showed last year at 41% against Division 1 teams, and she’s hitting just short of 47% against all foes this season. Donaldson shoots it less than three times per game on average, so Marquette can’t let her sit open and rain away from long range.
While those two are knocking down shots, no one else is. Her Hoop Stats has the Panthers at #106 in the country in three-point attempt rate….. but only #175 in shooting percentage. They’re going to put up shots from distance at a rate that doesn’t match how well it works for them, and they’re not going to get the misses, either. HHS marks them as a sub-300 rebounding rate team on the offensive end, so forcing a bad shot and cleaning the glass is a pretty solid pathway to a win here for Marquette.
Milwaukee’s also a sub-300 defensive team when it comes to shooting percentage, and yes, I mean that one. #324 overall, #300 on twos, #306 on threes, #320 on effective field goal percentage….. it’s not a good time on the defensive end of things. They give up assists easily, they don’t force turnovers, and so on and so on. If MU looks solid on the offensive end in this one, don’t read too much into their progress as a team because the Panthers’ problems are doing a decent amount of the heavy lifting there.