Even after a couple impressive early wins for our Marquette Golden Eagles this year, you get the feeling that the team is only looking to improve on their previous performances. They will be able to improve on those performances this Saturday with a cross-town battle against rival University Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The 16th-ranked Golden Eagles looked sharp last week with a win against Houston Baptist, a transitional Division I basketball team. With Matthews getting career high points (27) and assists (8), Marquette looked poised to have a strong non-conference record and a good season during Big East play.
However, the Panthers are all too willing to spoil Marquette’s early success, hoping to pull off an early upset of a ranked team.
The Universityof Wisconsin – Milwaukee Panthers have already played in a tournament in this young season and walked away with second place after losing badly to Iowa State. They are not as good as they have been in years past, but the UWM team is always dangerous with coach Rob Jeter calling the shots.
Marquette matches up very well against UWM mainly because the Panthers will not be able to exploit Marquette’s lack of size. Hayward should have a good opportunity to get plenty of boards. Like Marquette, Milwaukee’s tallest player is just 6 feet 8 inches, so Marquette will not be at a disadvantage when going after rebounds, a luxury they will not have once Big East conference play begins.
UWM will be forced to try to deal with a quick Golden Eagles team who is known throughout college basketball as having arguably the best backcourt in the nation.
Marquette will have to play Milwaukee tight on the perimeter as the Panthers have no problems with the longer three point line and will take the shot if they are open.
This is a team that has shown it can knock down shots once the opposing team allows them to get their rhythm. However, if Marquette can press early and make it difficult for Milwaukee to be consistent they should be able to pull away early in this game. If Marquette comes out and plays Milwaukee hard without easing up they should come away with a strong win against a beatable Milwaukee team.
Nonetheless, fans should expect a competitive game between two teams looking for the right to be crowned the best team in Milwaukee.
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