Marquette at Louisville: Basketball Picks & Predictions
Written March 1, 2009 by Jay Horne
The No. 6 Louisville Cardinals host the No. 8 Marquette Golden Eagles in what is turning out to be a huge game for conference regular season title implications. The Cardinals are now the only team tied with Connecticut a top the Big East standings thanks to losses this week by both Marquette and Pittsburgh. However, things are still wide open in the conference and anything could happen especially with Connecticut and Pittsburgh still set to square of again. Louisville could be sitting in a good position if they could manage to pull off the tough win over the Golden Eagles early Sunday. The game will be a classic battle between a strong scoring attack from Marquette going head to head with a strong scoring defense from the Cardinals. Louisville is a 9 point favorite over Marquette on Sunday.
The Louisville Cardinals dominated Georgetown earlier in the week in a big way 76-58. The Cardinals have been one of the strongest teams in the country in the past few weeks and are really coming together at the right time. Louisville has now won 14 of their last 16 games and they are really staging themselves to be a big threat in the Big East and NCAA Tournament’s. Terrence Williams and Earl Clark have each averaged 13 points and almost 9 rebounds to lead the Cardinals scoring efforts. Both standouts will need to be big for Louisville and post some points on the board to hold pace with the strong Marquette scoring offense this Sunday.
The Cardinals have one of the best defensive teams in America holding opponents to only 61.5 points that ranks right behind Connecticut at 2nd in the conference. Louisville has also been really strong against the glass this season averaging 38.8 rebounds that rank in the top 35 in the country. Their rebounding game could be a big aspect of how the game plays out if they could control the glass against a Marquette team that normally does not rack up a load of rebounds. The Cardinals defense will ultimately need to slow down the transition game from one of the best duos at the guard position in the country by Marquette’s backcourt. If Louisville can keep these two guards in check, they will likely be in good shape to come out with a win on their home court.
Marquette will come into the game fresh off a hard fought loss to Connecticut 92-83. The Golden Eagles have won 15 of their last 18 games heading into the contest. However, they have only split their last 6 games at a mark of 3-3. Still the Golden Eagles have a very dangerous offensive attack that will try to overcome the stout Louisville defense this Sunday. The Golden Eagles are tied for first in the conference in terms of scoring offense posted 80.0 points per game for the season. Their strong offense that is shooting 47% as a team on the season will try to lift the Golden Eagles over the Louisville defense and keep the Big East race wide open.
The Golden Eagles are led by a stellar duo in the backcourt. Senior Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews are among the best scorers in the conference considering both standouts rank in the top 5 in the Big East. Jerel McNeal has averaged 20.3 points per game that is good enough to rank 2nd individually in the conference, while Matthews has posted 18.8 points per game to rank him 4th inside the conference. These two standouts will try to lead the charge for the Marquette Golden Eagles to score a big win on the road. Both guards score real well in transition and can get hot from the floor. While the Golden Eagles do not have a real dominate inside game, these two players will likely be the telling tale of the story this Sunday.
Pick - Take Marquette +9
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