Tennessee Volunteers vs. Marquette Golden Eagles: game preview

Expect Tennessee’s game against Marquette tonight in Nashville to be a battle of the boards and benches. If Tennessee can win those two games-within-the-games, the Vols should be okay. If not, well, think Temple.

Keys to the game

Rebounding. Both teams are very good on the boards. Whichever team has the better night cleaning up the shooting failures of others will have an advantage. The Vols rank 5th in the nation in rebound margin, averaging 11 more boards than their opponents. But the Golden Eagles have out-rebounded their opponents in eight of nine games. In its last game against Indiana-Purdue-Fort-Wayne (the most awkwardly-named team in college sports!), Marquette tallied 48 total rebounds behind 18 from Lazar Hayward, who’s ranked 17th in the nation in rebounds with 10.6.

Marquette’s starting five vs. Tennessee’s bench. The Golden Eagles’ starting lineup is stocked with guys ranking nationally in many key statistical categories, but their bench production is sorely lacking. The starting five currently accounts 81.3 percent of the team’s offensive production, and the bench has contributed a grand total of 12 points over the last two games. Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl is fond of saying that although his opponent’s starting five might be better than his own starting five, his ten are better than his opponent’s.  Look for Tennessee to push the tempo and to force the game into a contest of depth.

Marquette players to watch

The aforementioned Hayward. Hayward was not only one board shy of the Bradley Center record of 19 in his last outing, he also managed a game-high 19 points on 9 of 17 shooting from the field. Dude’s got three double-doubles on the season already.

Senior guard Dominic James, who is perhaps Marquette’s best player. James currently ranks 17th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.2), 37th in the nation in steals (2.4 per game), and 51st in the nation in assists (5.3 per game). He’s also averaging 11.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. He was one of 50 guys named to the preseason candidate list for this year’s Wooden Award.

Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews. Notice I said that James is “perhaps” Marquette’s best player. If not, McNeal is. Perhaps. McNeal is ranked 75th in the nation in steals and 82nd in the nation in points per game. He, too, is on the preseason Wooden Award watch list. Or maybe Wesley Matthews is the Golden Eagles’ best player. Matthews scores more points per game  than either McNeal or James, thanks in part to his free throw shooting. Only two guys in the nation are making more free throws per game than Matthews, who’s hitting 7.7 per game on 8.8 attempts. Don’t foul Matthews!

KEY STATS COMPARISON
Category	Rank	Actual	Rank	Actual
Scoring Offense	8	85.3	12	82.8
Scoring Defense	273	73.4	174	67.3
Scoring Margin	62	11.9	29	15.4
Field-Goal Percentage	61	47.1	95	45.7
Field-Goal Percentage Defense	212	43.8	130	41.4
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game	126	6.6	174	6.1
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage	154	34.0	222	31.4
Three Pt FG Defense	117	0.32	51	0.292
Free-Throw Percentage	100	70.9	109	70.5
Rebound Margin	5	11.0	24	8.2
Assists Per Game	10	18.9	32	16.6
Assist Turnover Ratio	44	1.18	40	1.21
Blocked Shots Per Game	138	3.5	188	3.0
Steals Per Game	139	7.3	48	8.9
Turnovers Per Game	246	16.0	106	13.7
Turnover Margin	190	-0.5	81	2.4
Personal Fouls Per Game	273	20.9	258	20.4

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Category	Player	Rank	Actual	Player	Rank	Actual
Points PG				W. Matthews J. McNeal	48 82	19.6 18.2
FG%
3-Point FG PG
3-Point FG%
FT %				W. Matthews	44	87.3
Rebounds PG	B. Williams	93	8.1	L. Hayward	17	10.6
Assists PG	B. Maze T. Smith	76 94	4.9 4.6	D. James	51	5.3
Blocks PG
Steals PG				D. James J. McNeal	37 75	2.4 2.1
Assist-TO Ratio	B. Maze	6	3.9	D. James	17	3.2