After a 78-75 home loss to Wake Forest Wednesday, the Wisconsin Badgers head to Milwaukee. They will take on their in-state rival Marquette tomorrow afternoon. Marquette is coming off an impressive 96-70 win against Baylor. Wisconsin won last year’s matchup in Madison 89-76. Tip time is 3:30 in FS1. Here is what Wisconsin needs to do to beat Marquette.
Limit Possessions
This will need to be a defensive battle for the Badgers to win. The Golden Eagles average 82 points a game. In fact, Marquette has only scored less than 70 points once. That was a 58-55 loss to Mississippi State earlier this year. Marquette can score in bunches and they can score fast.
Wisconsin has to take advantage of each possession and take care of the ball. If Wisconsin gets in a track meet with Marquette, they won’t win. They got into a track meet with Wake Forest Wednesday and couldn’t get defensive stops late in the game.
Control Pace and Tempo
As mentioned, Marquette will want to make this a track meet. Wisconsin is not built to do that. I am not saying Wisconsin has to milk the shot clock every time, but they will have to make the Golden Eagles work on defense and get high percentage shots. Wisconsin has always been really good at this. They can’t lose their identity tomorrow afternoon.
Whoever can dictate pace of play and make the opponent play their style, that is the team that will come out on top in Wisconsin-Marquette. Wisconsin has done a good job making teams play their way with the exception of Wake Forest. Even with that, the Badgers were still able to score 75 points.
Wisconsin-Marquette Prediction
The atmosphere should be incredible tomorrow for Wisconsin-Marquette. About 90 minutes separate Marquette and Madison. There are also a ton of Badger fans in the Milwaukee area and I have no doubt they will show up.
What I like about Wisconsin is that they can rely on their defense and there will be times were Marquette will be annoyed by that. The question is can Wisconsin score enough? It’s obvious Marquette can, especially after scoring 96 points against one of the top teams in the country.
The Golden Eagles have four players that average at least 10 points a game. It’s a young lineup full of talented players. Credit to Marquette for getting the right coach in Shaka Smart.
Marquette has scored less than 70 points one time this year. We know what we’re getting from them offensively. Wisconsin? We have no idea. We saw 75 against Wake Forest and then 56 against UW-Green Bay and 43 against Dayton. I don’t think against Wisconsin Marquette scores 82 tomorrow, but I can’t see the Badgers scoring enough to hang in at the end. I think it’s a close game, but Marquette pulls away at the end.
Wisconsin 64 – Marquette 70
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