LINKS: Marquette Visits Georgetown Saturday for a GRAY OUT!

The Georgetown Hoyas (12-6, 2-3) will host the Marquette Golden Eagles (12-5, 2-3) on Saturday, Jan. 18 at around 2 pm, featured on FS1. According to GUHoyas.com, Saturday’s contest marks Georgetown’s annual Gray Out game, so we’re not the expecting teal jerseys to make an appearance.

The Golden Eagles have somewhat-household-names in their coach, Steve Wojciechowski, and their Player of the Year candidate, Markus Howard. While the match may be billed as Mac McClung trying to keep pace with Howard’s prolific scoring, most expect Jagan Mosely (“the glue man”) and Terrell Allen to defend the nation’s leading scorer. Marquette has a few other offensive options but physical forward, Theo John, concerns more than a few fans even as Omer Yurtseven has looked more comfortable recently.

With wins over Xavier and Villanova, and losses to Providence, Creighton, and Seton Hall, Marquette may appear just as mercurial as the Hoyas this Big East season, especially on defense. However, holding #14 Villanova to 60 points is a feat, even if it was at the Fiserv Forum. If a healthier Georgetown can get this game in the 70s, while limiting MU’s free-throws and offensive rebounds, they have a shot at repeating the Creighton game result—perhaps even if Howard gets his 30.

Here are the links:

#MUBB Continues BIG EAST Play At Georgetown Saturday - Marquette University Athletics | GOMARQUETTE

The Marquette University men’s basketball team (12-5, 2-3 BIG EAST) continues BIG EAST Conference play at Georgetown (12-6, 2-3 BIG EAST) Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT in Capital One Arena. FS1 will feature the national television broadcast, with Jeff Levering (play-by-play) and Tarik Turner (analyst) calling the action...

Marquette owns a slim 14-13 advantage in the all-time series, with each team winning on the road in the home-and-home series in 2018-19.

Marquette, Georgetown meet in conference play | WKOW

SAVVY VETERANS: Senior leadership has been on display for both teams this year. Omer Yurtseven, Jagan Mosely and Terrell Allen have collectively scored 39 percent of Georgetown’s points this season and 46 percent of the team’s points over its last five games. For Marquette, Markus Howard, Sacar Anim, Koby McEwen and Brendan Bailey have combined to account for 71 percent of all Marquette scoring, including 109 percent of the team’s points over its last five games...

Georgetown is 0-6 this year when it scores 73 points or fewer and 12-0 when it scores at least 74.

Pregame Primer: Creighton’s Big East Gauntlet Begins with Recent Nemesis Marquette | WHITEANDBLUEREVIEW

The Brothers Hauser are no longer around, meaning that for the most part the supporting cast for Howard looks quite a bit different than it did a year ago. Sacar Anim has been their second option offensively, and the combo of Howard and Anim have taken about 45% of the team’s total shots. [He] can score in a variety of ways — he’ll drive to the basket (38% of his total shots have come at the rim, where he converts an excellent 66% of the time), and he can shoot the three (17-of-37 on the year, or 46%).

Koby McEwen has been their third scoring option, averaging 10.2 points per game largely on his ability to draw fouls and make nearly every single free throw he takes... After a hot start, he’s been in a shooting slump and is now making just 31% of his shots overall (27-of-85) and from three (15-of-47)...

6’9″ Theo John is their enforcer, and gives them a true rim protector on defense. He ranks 31st in the nation in block percentage with 25, or just over two per game.

What to expect from Marquette the rest of this season | THEATHLETIC

Senior swingman Sacar Anim, sophomore forward Brendan Bailey and 6-7 junior Jamal Cain have all made improvements since last season, and all are shooting better than 40 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. Defensively, the Golden Eagles thrive on shot-blocker Theo John’s rim protection, even if he’s not much of an offensive threat. With his 7-foot frame, Utah grad transfer Jayce Johnson provides another big body and some excellent work on the glass. Both big guys have been inconsistent too, because of injuries. John has been battling a ligament tear in his right hand that will eventually require surgery, while Johnson has a troublesome right knee.

...Marquette: preview, matchups, keys to the game | BANNERSONTHEPARKWAY

Marquette has a handful of stacks and you’d better grab an umbrella, because they make it rain (from three). They shoot more than 40% of their shots from behind the arc and connect on exactly 40% of those shots. Their rebounding and ball security are average and they can’t score from inside the arc very well at all. Weirdly for a team that shoots so many jumpers, they are excellent at getting to the line. It all adds up to an offense just inside the top 50 in the nation.

On defense, they thrive on forcing tough shots, ranking 26th in the nation in defensive EFG%. They also clean the glass well, hanging out just inside the top 100 in defensive rebounding percentage. They don’t force turnovers, and they can be fairly foul prone. They block a lot of shots, especially through Theo John.

Ed Morrow To Take An Indefinite Leave Of Absence | ANONYMOUSEAGLE

Up until Wednesday night, Morrow had appeared in every game this season for Marquette, averaging 12 minutes per contest. He has been contributing 3.4 points per game and 3.4 rebounds per game. However, his turnovers have been a problem for the team this year, with his 24.4% turnover rate coming in second on the team amongst every game rotation players to Koby McEwen.

Sometimes It’s Not Complicated | ANONYMOUSEAGLE

Not only are MU’s five losses their five worst performances on defense in terms of efficiency, they’re also MU’s only five games where they’ve allowed more than a point per possession. It’s worse than that. MU’s worst performance on defense in a win was against North Dakota State, where they allowed 0.96 points per possession, or 96.4 points per 100 possessions if you want to think of it that way. Saturday’s game against Seton Hall Pirates was MU’s best defensive performance in a loss, as they coughed up 1.03 points per possession, or 103.4 points per 100 possessions. The next best one was Providence this past Tuesday, coming in at 107.3 points per 100 possessions.

Marquette doesn’t have any average defensive performances. They’re either good or they’re bad.

Desperation mounts as Xavier plays Marquette | BIGEASTCOASTBIAS

Marquette is facing a problem that was anticipated before the season: there just isn’t a whole lot of scoring outside of Howard. The star guard averages 26.8 points per game and is well on his way to breaking the league’s scoring record, but only fellow senior guard Sacar Anim averages in double-figures at 12 points per game. Despite Howard’s greatness, KenPom only has Marquette as the 43rd-best offense in the country.

...one has to begin to ponder about Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski’s future in Milwaukee. An off-season extension seemed a little curious for a guy who has yet to win an NCAA Tournament game, especially for a school with a proud history that had entered the reformed Big East with eight consecutive tournament appearances. A good recruiting class may allow Wojo to keep his job another season but a win tonight would go a long way to ensuring that Howard gets to finish his career in the Big Dance.

And it looks like The Hoya editors are finally back on campus working hard...

COMMENTARY | A Tumultuous Men’s Basketball Season Brings the Program’s Future Into Question | THEHOYA

Ewing’s job security will also be in jeopardy if the team fails to make the NCAA Tournament this season. Ewing has done fairly well without much depth on the roster and in spite of the loss of four of his major recruits, but his time on the Hilltop was meant to return the program to the prominence of his playing career. Ewing’s three years as head coach, unlike his four in the 1980s, have been average.

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