• Marquette Looks for Revenge Against St. John's

    By: Steve Luebke
    Special to BrewCityBall.com

    #10 Marquette (19-3) vs St. John's (16-6)
    7:00pm Fiserv Forum - Milwaukee, WI
    TV: FS1


    St. John Red Storm - 16-6/4-5 (3-4 in road games)
    Head Coach: Chris Mullin 9th season (54-66)
    46th in Sagarin rating (MU is 18th)

    Efficiency Numbers (Kenpom)

    St. John’s

    Offensive Efficiency 112 (35th)
    Defensive Efficiency 98.5 (82nd)

    Marquette
    Offensive Efficiency 113.3 (26th)
    Defensive Efficiency 94.9 (35th)

    Marquette leads the all-time series 20-13. MU has won 5 of the last 8 and has won the last 3 games played in Milwaukee. Marquette will look to stay perfect at Fiserv Forum.

    More Numbers...

    Marquette:
    Offense - 78.9 points per game Defense - 73.2 ppg
    Seton Hall: Offense - 81.2 points per game Defense - 73.9 ppg

    THE GOOD & THE BAD… St John’s is first in the Big East with an assist to turnover ratio of 1.38, while Marquette is last at 0.98. Marquette is the only team in the league to have more TOs than assists. St. John’s is first in BE in steals at 8.82 per game, while MU is last with 5.41 per game.

    CHARITY… Marquette shoots 77.5% from the free throw line (1st), while St. John’s shoots 71.8%. Both teams are close shooting percentage from the floor…MU at 46.2% and St. John’s 47%.

    Marquette holds a distinct edge with a rebounding margin of +5.4 (2nd) and St. John’s is last in the Big East at -3. St. John’s is last in offensive rebounding with 7.73 per game.
    Shamarie Ponds is one of the best players in the conference. He is 3rd in scoring at 20.4 ppg. Leads the conference in assists (5.6), steals (2.9), and is 2nd in assist to turnover ratio (2.4-1).

    St. John’s is the only team that held Markus Howard to single digit scoring (8) in a game this season (minus the Georgetown game where Howard played 3 minutes due to back injury).

    The Golden Eagles rank 8th in the nation shooting 39.9% from distance. Sam Hauser and Joey Hauser have played a key role in these high shooting percentages, as Sam Hauser has converted 41.4% (58-140 3FG) of his 3-point attempts while Joey Hauser owns a team-best 48.5 3-point shooting percentage.

    When these teams last met, St. John’s was coming off a late game controversial loss to Seton Hall and the Red Storm came out with focus and energy. St. John’s was embarrassed Saturday at Cameron Indoor by Duke 91-61. Last week St. John’s look very good with a win at Creighton 83-67.

    St John’s is the classic tough matchup for Marquette. Super athletic, long, and tall. Coach Wojo will need to have the team’s attention in advance of the Villanova game on Saturday. I think he will out-coach Chris Mullin and MU will stay perfect at Fiserv Forum. Theo John and Ed Morrow need to play well in the lane and stay out of foul trouble.

    Prediction: Marquette 79 St John’s 72