The Golden Eagles have claimed each of the previous two meetings between the programs, including a 94-79 victory at the Bradley Center in 2005-06 in the team’s first-ever BIG EAST matchup. MU also posted a 73-69 win at UConn last season.
Road Success Hard To Find In BIG EAST Play
Defending homecourt has been a long-established tradition in the BIG EAST Conference, and the 2007-08 campaign is no exception early in the league slate.
Road squads are just 8-31 (.205) to this point in the campaign in opposing cities and only one team (Georgetown) has more than one victory wearing the visiting uniform. Nine squads have yet to board the flight home with a win in their pocket and the standings still feature 11 programs with .500-or-better marks in BIG EAST play.
Marquette, which claimed four conference road victories in 2006-07, owns a total of seven since the team joined the league in 2005-06.
MU Has Trouble With Long Distance Provider
Marquette finished Thursday night’s matchup at Louisville 0-of-12 from behind the 3-point line, snapping a streak of 228-straight games with at least one long-distance basket.
Prior to the contest at Louisville, MU last failed to net a 3-pointer on Dec. 23, 2000 against Wisconsin. Marquette concluded that night 0-of-9 in trey attempts in a 52-47 loss to the Badgers.
Reason For League Success Easy To See
Marquette has excelled at both ends of the court in the team’s three BIG EAST Conference victories this season, illustrated by a quick glance at the team’s statistics in those outings.
The Golden Eagles are averaging 83.0 points per game in the trio of wins, while allowing their opponents to average 63.0 points per contest. The squad’s defensive effort has held enemy shooters to connect on just 39.5 percent of their collective attempts.
In the pair of conference setbacks, however, those numbers reach the other end of the spectrum. MU has shot just 35.8 percent from the floor in losses at West Virginia and Louisville, translating into a scoring average of just 57.5 points per game. Opponents, meanwhile, are connecting on 48.5 percent from the field overall and scoring 75.0 points per night.