No. 14 Marquette hosts Vandy Thursday
VANDERBILT COMMODORES (8-4)
at MARQUETTE GOLDEN EAGLES (11-1)
Tip-off: Thursday, 9:00 p.m. ET
Line: Marquette -9.5, Total: 148.5
Two very similar teams meet up when Vanderbilt visits No. 14 Marquette Thursday night.
The Commodores and Golden Eagles both rely heavily on perimeter play. But the potential absence of Vanderbilt C Festus Ezeli—questionable with a knee injury—gives Marquette a rare size advantage against an opponent. MARQUETTE is the pick, in large part because of a rare five-star trend from the FoxSheets that illustrates how well head coach Buzz Williams’ Golden Eagles have played against perimeter-oriented opponents:
Williams is 19-3 ATS (86.4%, +15.7 Units) versus teams who attempt 21 or more 3-point shots/game on the season as the coach of MARQUETTE. The average score was MARQUETTE 77.6, OPPONENT 65.5 - (Rating = 5*).
Marquette has had a relative struggle of late. The Golden Eagles lost their first game of the year at LSU on Dec. 19, and they’ve gone 0-4-1 ATS over their past five contests. They bounced back from the LSU loss with an ugly 64-50 win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee (an ATS push). Marquette shot the ball very poorly in both those games (38% from the field, 29% from three). But the Golden Eagles have gotten after it defensively all season, holding opponents to 61.5 PPG on 37% shooting from the field, 32% shooting from three, and forcing 17.8 turnovers per game.
Their offensive attack is led by SG Darius Johnson-Odom (17.9 PPG) and tweener forward Jae Crowder (17.3 PPG, 7.3 RPG). Six-foot-11, 265-pound starting C Chris Otule (1.6 BPG) is likely to miss another game with a knee injury, but 6-foot-8, 290-pound PF Davante Gardner has filled in admirably, averaging 11.8 PPG and 6.8 RPG in four starts.
Vanderbilt has played a challenging non-conference slate, including back-to-back overtime losses at home to then-No. 11 Xavier and at Louisville (then No. 6) a month ago. Since then the Commodores have been a little shaky. Trying to work Ezeli back into the lineup, they just scraped by a mediocre Davidson team on the road, 87-83, and lost at home to Indiana State. Ezeli sat their last two games, easy home wins against overmatched small schools Longwood and Lafayette.
Vandy is getting stellar play from SG John Jenkins (20.6 PPG on 48% FG, 44% from three) and SF Jeffery Taylor (17.9 PPG on 55% FG, 41% 3-pt shooting). Undersized PF Lance Goulbourne (10.4 PPG, 7.3 RPG) has done his best to hold down the interior with Ezeli out, but the Commodores have little else inside the paint.
VANDERBILT COMMODORES (8-4)
at MARQUETTE GOLDEN EAGLES (11-1)
Tip-off: Thursday, 9:00 p.m. ET
Line: Marquette -9.5, Total: 148.5
Two very similar teams meet up when Vanderbilt visits No. 14 Marquette Thursday night.
The Commodores and Golden Eagles both rely heavily on perimeter play. But the potential absence of Vanderbilt C Festus Ezeli—questionable with a knee injury—gives Marquette a rare size advantage against an opponent. MARQUETTE is the pick, in large part because of a rare five-star trend from the FoxSheets that illustrates how well head coach Buzz Williams’ Golden Eagles have played against perimeter-oriented opponents:
Williams is 19-3 ATS (86.4%, +15.7 Units) versus teams who attempt 21 or more 3-point shots/game on the season as the coach of MARQUETTE. The average score was MARQUETTE 77.6, OPPONENT 65.5 - (Rating = 5*).
Marquette has had a relative struggle of late. The Golden Eagles lost their first game of the year at LSU on Dec. 19, and they’ve gone 0-4-1 ATS over their past five contests. They bounced back from the LSU loss with an ugly 64-50 win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee (an ATS push). Marquette shot the ball very poorly in both those games (38% from the field, 29% from three). But the Golden Eagles have gotten after it defensively all season, holding opponents to 61.5 PPG on 37% shooting from the field, 32% shooting from three, and forcing 17.8 turnovers per game.
Their offensive attack is led by SG Darius Johnson-Odom (17.9 PPG) and tweener forward Jae Crowder (17.3 PPG, 7.3 RPG). Six-foot-11, 265-pound starting C Chris Otule (1.6 BPG) is likely to miss another game with a knee injury, but 6-foot-8, 290-pound PF Davante Gardner has filled in admirably, averaging 11.8 PPG and 6.8 RPG in four starts.
Vanderbilt has played a challenging non-conference slate, including back-to-back overtime losses at home to then-No. 11 Xavier and at Louisville (then No. 6) a month ago. Since then the Commodores have been a little shaky. Trying to work Ezeli back into the lineup, they just scraped by a mediocre Davidson team on the road, 87-83, and lost at home to Indiana State. Ezeli sat their last two games, easy home wins against overmatched small schools Longwood and Lafayette.
Vandy is getting stellar play from SG John Jenkins (20.6 PPG on 48% FG, 44% from three) and SF Jeffery Taylor (17.9 PPG on 55% FG, 41% 3-pt shooting). Undersized PF Lance Goulbourne (10.4 PPG, 7.3 RPG) has done his best to hold down the interior with Ezeli out, but the Commodores have little else inside the paint.
Comment