With the warmth and charm of Maui looming on the horizon, the Marquette Golden Eagles (1-0) will take on the Utah Valley State Wolverines (0-1) at the Bradley Center on Monday night. Tip-off is at 7pm Marquette Standard Time.
The Wolverines stumble into Milwaukee looking to bounce back from an overtime loss at Boise State, 73-72. Junior guard Ryan Toolson led the Wolverines with 29 points, while 6'6" senior forward Jordan Brady added a double-double of 17 and 15. Forward Richard Troyer chipped in with 10 points and six rebounds. The Wolverines made 39% of their threes in the loss.
Utah Valley State is coached by former Ball State head man Dick Hunsaker. The Wolverines had a breakthrough season a year ago, going 22-7 with notable wins over Albany and North Dakota State. The 6'4" Toolson led the team in scoring despite not starting a single game. Toolson poured in 15.5 ppg, connected on an eye-popping 44% from 3-pt territory, and led the nation in free throw shooting (97%). Jimmy Chitwood lives! As a team, the Wolverines made 39% of their three-point attempts last season.
The Golden Eagles will rely on its backcourt as Tom Crean looks to take a perfect record into Maui next week. Jerel McNeal, who rallied Marquette from a sluggish stretch in the second half against IUPUI, will likely draw the defensive assignment on Toolson.
While Marquette's deep and talented backcourt seems to come at opponents in waves, the inside game remains a mystery, as always. Junior Dwight Burke started over Ousmane Barro on Saturday, and delivered a two points and two rebounds in 16 minutes of action. Barro was not much better, if at all, with three points and seven boards in 22 uninspiring minutes.
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Five steals? Burke won't have five steals all year.
ReplyDeleteoy, my bad
ReplyDeleteBurke did have five steals in the exhibition game against Northern State (in 18 minutes). You could look it up.
ReplyDelete