NCAA Tournament Opponent Breakdown: Marquette

The Marquette Golden Eagles enter their first-round matchup with No. 8 Carolina with a 19-12 overall record and an 11-8 mark in Big East play. This will be the team’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in three years, although the Golden Eagles haven’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2013, when they advanced to the Elite Eight. For those who aren’t familiar with the foes from Milwaukee, here’s a quick breakdown:

Head Coach: Shaka Smart

Why does that matter? Smart is one of the more successful young coaches in college basketball today. He became a star after leading the No. 11 seed VCU Rams on a Cinderella run to the 2011 Final Four. Since then, Smart has coached at Texas, where he went 3-0 against the Tar Heels. This is his first season with Marquette.

What’s UNC’s history with Marquette? UNC leads the all-time series with the Golden Eagles 4-2, though their first and last meetings will be ones Tar Heel fans would like to forget. The first game was the 1977 national championship, in which head coach Al McGuire and Marquette defeated a UNC side led by Phil Ford. The most recent meeting saw Marquette come into the Smith Center and hand Carolina an 83-70 loss last season. Dawson Garcia scored a game-high 24 points.

What’s happened since then? The Golden Eagles have changed head coaches and almost their entire roster from 2021. None of the five starters of last year’s game are primary starters this season.

Stats to watch: Though Marquette only lists one player on its roster above six feet and ten inches, the Golden Eagles rank in the nation’s top 20 with 5.1 blocks per game. Carolina only allows 3.2 of its shots to be blocked per game, but are 6-1 this season when the opponent blocks five or more shots.

Marquette also is near the nation’s top 50 with almost eight steals per game. In six of UNC’s nine losses this year, the opponent has gotten at least seven steals.

The Tar Heels are 7-0 when committing fewer than eight turnovers. Marquette has forced 10 or more turnovers in 26 of its 31 games this season.

Depth and fatigue could also be a challenge for Carolina: only one of Marquette’s starters plays more than 30 minutes per game, while three of UNC’s starters log upwards of 31.

Player to watch: Justin Lewis leads Marquette in both points (17.1) and rebounds (7.9) per game. Though he was on the team in 2021, he didn’t play in the Golden Eagles’ win in the Smith Center. This season, he’s started all 31 games, and scored a career-high 33 points in a win over Seton Hall in January. He’s averaging 23.7 points per game in his last three games. At six feet, seven inches and 235 pounds, he will likely match up on Carolina’s Brady Manek. Like Manek, Lewis is also effective beyond the arc, shooting 35 percent on three-pointers this season.

Location, location, location: Carolina will be playing in the state of Texas for the first time since the 2016 national championship game. This will be the 10th NCAA Tournament and the 15th NCAA Tournament game in which Carolina will play in Texas. The Tar Heels are 7-7 in the previous 14 games.

What are the odds? As of Tuesday, the Tar Heels are a three-point favorite in the game. Historically, No. 8 vs No. 9 games are basically toss-ups in the NCAA Tournament: the No. 8 seeds are 71-73 all-time, though they did win three of four games last year. The one loss, though, belonged to Carolina.

Featured image via Associated Press/Aaron Gash

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NCAA Tournament Opponent Breakdown: Marquette

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