Bulls take on No. 24 Marquette for a second time this season
Round two of Marquette v. USF tips off tonight in the Sun Dome at 7 p.m., a little more than a week after the Bulls fell to the Golden Eagles atMarquettes home court.
The Golden Eagles were ranked 25th in the nation and are now at No. 24 in the AP Top 25 polls.
What can USF learn as it flashes back to eight days ago?
The last time these teams met, the Bulls matched up nicely against Marquette in all areas but one, shooting, which eventually caused the 63-50 loss for USF.
The Bulls shot anoverall of 27 percent from thefield 19 in the secondhalf while Marquetteaveraged 55 percent by the end of the night.
Its clear from the last game that the major focal points for the Bulls tonight will beshooting, offensiveeffort on the glass, and overallperformance in the second half.
In their last meeting, USF experienced a drop inshooting from all over the court.
The Bulls were 37 percent in the first half from the field, shooting57 percent from beyond the arch. In the second half,19 percent from the field,33 from three-point land.
Closing out and stayingconsistent has been an issue all season in Big East play, the last game against Marquette serving as a good example of that.
Though lack of size hastaken a toll on the Bulls this season, USF only lost therebound battle that night34-30. However, the Bullsmanaged to snag 14 reboundsoffensively while Marquette came down with 26 on
defense.
As far as the defense is concerned, USF lived up tobeing fourth in the Big East inthree-point defense, holdingMarquette to under 15 percent from the three-point range theentire night.
Though the GoldenEagles had no luck from deep, it was a buffet in the field. Marquette, in addition toshooting above 50 percent in both halves of play, muscled its way toscoring 38 points in the paint.
Marquette will enter the Sun Dome trying to pick up the pieces from its loss atNo.11 Louisville where the Golden Eagles were crushed, 70-51.
USF will try to bounce back from a close overtime loss to Connecticut where USFsenior forward Toarlyn Fitzpatrick
exposed a UConn defense to score 22 points similar to Marquette junior guard Vander Blues game against USF with30 points.
Tonights game will also give USF a chance to beat aTop 25 team. Marquette is the third Top 25 to enter the Sun Dome,standing at No. 24 in the nation,boasting an 18-3 record against USF.
With home-team advantageon their side this time,tonights game has all thecomponents necessary for the Bulls to win, in what could be the biggest upset of theseason.
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