Marquette vs Missouri Betting Lines

Written by Anthony Moretti

missouri-marquette-ncaa-tournament-predictions-032109 In the West Region of the NCAA tournament 3rd seeded Missouri will face 6th seeded Marquette with the winner earning a trip to the Sweet 16. The two will meet this Sunday and Taco Bell arena for this second round battle. To earn their trip to the second round, Missouri survived their first round game against Cornell. The final score read 78-59, but Cornell hung with the Tigers for much longer than most expected. Marquette barely escaped in the first round against Utah State in a game they by 8 at halftime. Utah State surged in the second half, but the Golden Eagles held on for a 58-57 win. A look at the college basketball odds for Sunday show the Missouri Tigers -3.5 against the Marquette Golden Eagels and the total for the game set for 147 points.

Marquette was a popular upset pick in the first round of the tournament and they just narrowly escaped being just that against Utah State on Friday. The Eagles were lead by Lazar Hayward, who put up 26 points on 9 of 14 shots from the floor. Hayward aside, Marquette suffered from failing to hit shots from the floor for the majority of the game. Both Jerel McNeal and Wes Matthews are normally a source of consistent points for the Eagles, but they combined to shoot just 1-9 from three point range and 6-26 from the floor. The more I see this team play the more apparent it is how much they miss their stud point guard, Dominic James. To earn a trip to the Sweet 16 Marquette will need to show a lot more consistency against Missouri. They looked sloppy in the first round and while that was enough against Utah State, a repeat performance would be disastrous against the Tigers on Sunday.

Missouri took full advantage of their first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2003 and poured it on late against Cornell to end up with a 19 point victory. Leo Lyons turned in a great performance for the Tigers with 23 points and 10 rebounds. The combination of Lyons and DeMarre Carroll in the paint will be a tough match up for Marquette, whose strength lies mostly in their backcourt. Missouri pressures as much as they can on defense and creates turnovers. With the way Marquette handled the ball on Friday this could be a major advantage for the Tigers. What the Tigers need to do is play the game at their speed and force Marquette out of their comfort zone. Because they press for pressure on the defensive end of the court, they are vulnerable to the fast break as well as leaving players open in at the perimeter. If Marquette can’t cope with the pressure, however, the Tigers win this game going away.

Teams with strong guard play in the tournament have always been dangerous opponents. This holds true in Sunday’s game as this is a game Missouri should win, but one they could lose if they do not execute their game plan well. You’d like to think that the Golden Eagles worked out some of their kinks in the first round, but I get the feeling they still feel lost without their starting point guard and team leader in James. While there’s always that possibility of an upset, I actually get the feeling that Missouri will score a win in the double digits on Sunday.

Pick - Take Missouri -4

Comments

One Response to “Marquette vs Missouri Betting Lines”

dave on March 22nd, 2009 3:06 PM

I think marquette might pull it off because dominic james is back and they r a better team

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