Take The Points Against One Of The Best Teams In The Country

UConn vs. Marquette, 8:30 ET

I was able to escape with a 1-1 night in college basketball yesterday. I've loved these games this season and am enjoying the parity in the league. Even with the constant upsets and craziness of the season, we've put together a good year and are able to make sure that we get a bank roll built up for the upcoming conference tournaments, and then the Big Dance. Tonight we get a game between two of the Big East powerhouses as UConn looks to keep dominating teams as they take on Marquette on the road. 

UConn has been one of the top teams all season and should easily take home a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. They come into the game with just three losses on the season, and only two losses within the conference. One of those losses came within the past five games, where they lost by almost 20 points on the road against Creighton. This was somewhat of an unsurprising spot for them to lose as well. Prior to that loss, they had won 14 straight games. On the other end of the loss was a road loss to Seton Hall. UConn is one of the more balanced teams in the country, as evidenced by the success they've had this season. They have five guys averaging 11 or more points this year and even their bench does a solid job of contributing in their roles. They have another three players that are rotation guys and find ways to score, rebound, or contribute when the starters are getting rest. This feels more like a balanced NBA team than it does a college team. The only real issue is that they don't have someone that I'd consider a superstar. In addition, this doesn't feel like a spot that is great for them, but they could lose the game here too. Marquette is a very good team, and they could get revenge against the Huskies. 

In that first game against UConn, Marquette was embarrassed. They went to UConn and lost that game by almost 30 points. In that game, they allowed UConn to get whatever they wanted. The Huskies scored 46% from the field and 37% from deep. A combination of tough defense and bad shooting made the Golden Eagles fall apart in the game. They were able to only make 37% of their shots and were just 5-for-23 from deep in the game. Connecticut jumped out to a 16-point lead in the first half and never looked back. They also lost their most recent game, a road game against Creighton where they fell by 14. That gives them two losses in the past five games. On the year, Marquette has played games against seven ranked opponents (tonight will be eight), and their record is 4-3. They need to find a way to escape with a win tonight. They have a strong backcourt duo that combine to score 31.1 points per game, and they need to be the best players on the court tonight for Marquette to win this one. The frontcourt of Marquette is also pretty good, averaging 25 points per game and 10.9 rebounds per game. If they can clean the glass, they might be able to keep this one close against UConn. 

Will defense prevail in this game? I'm not really sure to be honest. It seems like the book thinks the teams will shoot pretty well overall with a total of 151.5. I would be a bit surprised if it does go over the total as I think that both teams should try and lock in on defense. Marquette hasn't played great lately, but I'm going to take the points with them. This has to be a game they are looking for revenge in and coming off of a loss should be motivation to get a win over the best team in their conference. I'll take Marquette +5.5 and wouldn't be surprised if they win outright. 

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