BCI Game Notes: UC vs. no. 17 Marquette
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COACH PIRTLE
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TREASURE HUMPHRIES
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Records
Cincinnati:
Home Away Neutral
All Games.
(12-7)
(9-2) (2-4) (1-1)
Big East Games
(3-4) (2-1) (1-3)
(0-0)
Non-Conference Games
(9-3) (7-1) (1-1) (1-1)
Marquette (No.
17)
Homes Away Neutral
All Games
(18-2) (9-0) (6-2) (3-0)
Big East Games
(6-1) (4-0) (2-1) (0-0)
Non-Conference Games (12-1)
(5-0) (4-1) (3-0)
SETTING THE
SCENE
The Bearcats face a Top 25 opponent for
the fourth time this season when they host Marquette on Saturday, Jan. 27. The 2
p.m. tip off at Fifth Third Arena pits Cincinnati against the No. 18/17 Golden
Eagles, who are 12 points away from being undefeated on the season. UC is 1-2 so far this season against Top
25 teams, but 1-0 at home after the Bearcats knocked off No. 24/24 DePaul on
Jan. 14 at Fifth Third Arena. Cincinnati is coming off its first Big East road
win, an 80-62 decision. Marquette, fresh off a 71-62 win over Notre Dame the
say, brings an 18-2 record and one of the top scoring offenses in the Big East
into the contest.
Probable Starting Lineups
CINCINNATI
PPG RPG APG PCT.
F 22 Shelly Bellman, 5-10, So., Ottawa, Ohio
12.9 7.1 3.3
.460
G 23 Carla Jacobs, 5-7, Fr., Cleveland, Ohio
7.9 2.4 4.5
.345
G 25 Angel Morgan, 5-8, So., Springfield, Ohio
5.7 5.5 2.9
.364
F 40 Jill Stephens, 6-3, So., Mineral Wells, W.Va.
4.7 2.7 0.4
.500
C 52 Michelle Jones, 6-1, So., Cincinnati, Ohio
12.3 6.2 0.4
.530
MARQUETTE
PPG RPG APG PCT.
G 20 Krystal
Ellis, 5-9, So., Racine, Wisc.
19.0 3.6 4.1
.464
F 24 Danielle
Kamm, 6-2, Sr., Reese, Mich.
10.4 5.9 2.2
.420
F 32 Efueko
Osagie-Landry, 6-0, Sr., Oklahoma City, Okla. 5.2 5.0 1.2
.507
F 34 Kristina
Quaye, 6-2, Sr., Chicago, Ill.
15.6 6.5 1.5
.500
F 45 Jasmine
McCullough, 6-1, Sr., St. Louis, Mo.
6.9 4.2 1.4
.407
Things to
Look For
Pace of
the Game: Both teams
feature fast-paced, defensively charged gameplans that should make for an
exciting open-court game.
Cincinnati and Marquette will each look to utilizing trapping style
defenses in the open court in order to initiate their fast break game by turning
teams over. With that being said,
the Big East foes are far from carbon copies of one another, the general ideas
are similar. One of the major
differences will likely be the approach to 3-point line. UC is far more prone to taking shots
from behind the arc, even in transition, than is the Golden Eagle squad. While Marquette does have competent
shooters, they take advantage of the size of their guards and wing players to
pound the ball into the paint.
Marquette’s Match-Up Zone: The Golden Eagles impose an intimidating
match-up zone that causes teams quality looks. While they look to run in the open
court, Marquette generally does not force turnovers with their zoning
efforts. Teams are shooting well
below 40-percent from the field and only 28-percent from 3-point range against
MU. This style of zone does not
necessarily mesh with the Golden Eagles offensive desire to get up and down the
floor due to the fact that they do not force a lot of transition basket-favoring
turnovers (i.e. steals and blocked shots). However, the match-up does often
force teams into taking bad shots from 15 feet or out that can be outlet passed
quickly to one of the two or three ball handlers of Marquette to push it up the
floor.
Turnovers: As previously mentioned, Marquette is
not necessarily a turnover inducing team, which could be either very uplifting
or demeaning the ‘Cats efforts on Saturday afternoon. The Bearcats have turned the ball
over at least 20 times in six out of their last eight contests and have had
considerably high levels of giveaways in those other two games, as well as most
games this season. While much of
the Bearcats miscues are attributable to their fastbreaking style, a system of
offense that will see three or four bad on-the-run passes affect them on any
given night, there is more to it then that. As head coach Laurie Pirtle has noted on
several occasions, many of her team’s mishaps have been more of the mental
variety than that of shabby execution, or at least non-mentally
induced-execution. It is amazing to see the number of traveling or carrying
calls the team will pickup over the course of the game, sometimes getting as
high as six or seven. With
Marquette featuring an offense that is very efficient in terms of maximizing
possessions and shooting high percentages from both two- and three-point range,
as well as from the free-throw line, it will be paramount for the ‘Cats to avoid
giving potential scoring opportunities.
It will also help UC’s cause to take possessions away from the Golden
Eagles with their full-court trap/zone.
Rotations: While we have talked about some of the
differences in the styles of play between UC and MU, their most notable
differentiating mark is the rotations of the two schools. The Bearcats have become comfortable
with an eight-player corp (four frontcourt, three backcourt), while the Golden
Eagles take full advantage of 10 of the players on their roster. Marquette runs each of their
players at least eight minutes per contest, with the rotation ultimately
defining itself based on the in-game success, or the hot hand, of a particular
player. This deep that MU features
affords them the change to have a game-long high-tempo style and gives them the
opportunity to be a bit more aggressive on both ends due to their sizeable
allotment of disposable fouls. The
Bearcats will not feature a rotation of nearly as many players, but that does
not mean Pirtle will not shake-up her lineup from time to time. UC could very well run three guards and
a small forward on the floor at one time, while instance could have 6-0 power
forward Karen Twehues playing the shooting guard. One thing is for certain, each of
these teams will bring exciting rotations to the
floor.
Noting the Series
Series All-Time
Record:
MU leads,
17-9.
Last Meeting: MU 66, UC 48 at the Al McGuire
Center in Milwaukee.
* No. 17/18 Marquette will look for its fourth straight
BIG EAST Conference win against Cincinnati.
* The
Eagles are on a three-game winning streak, their last loss, a 91-87 overtime
setback, coming in BIG EAST play against Pittsburgh (1/9/07). The Bearcats have
lost five of their last eight.
Noting Cincinnati
*The
Bearcats are 9-2 when playing at home this season, though Cincinnati lost
back-to-back home games vs. Xavier (1/17/07) and Seton Hall (1/20/07). UC had
not lost consecutive games at Fifth Third Arena since the 2004-05 season, when
UC lost three consecutive home games —North Dakota State (1/12/05), Louisville
(1/16/05) and Houston (1/21/05).
*
UC and Marquette have played three
common opponents so far this season — DePaul, Notre Dame and Xavier. The
Bearcats are 1-2 vs. these foes, while Marquette is 3-0—UC picked up a 62-44 win
over No. 24 DePaul (1/14/07), while the Golden Eagles edged the Blue Demons,
82-79 (1/6/07). The Bearcats lost at Notre Dame, 81-70, on Jan. 10 and dropped
an 89-76 decision to Xavier on Jan. 17. The Golden Eagles crushed Xavier, 73-53,
on Nov. 25 and defeated Notre Dame, 71-62.
*
The Bearcats are first in the
conference in rebounding defense (31.8) and third in the BIG EAST in rebounding
margin (+9.6) and assists (17.4). The Golden Eagles are ranked second in free
throw percentage (70.2) and third in five categories: points scored (75.3),
scoring margin (+13.2), field goal percentage (44.3), 3-point field goal defense
(28.0) and 3-point field goal percentage (34.0).
Noting Marquette
* The Golden Eagles' game against the Bearcats will be
heir first of consecutive road games. MU will play at Rutgers on Tuesday, Jan.
30. While highly unlikely, Marquette may have been looking past the Bearcats a
bit this week.
* The Golden Eagles (18-2, 6-1 BIG EAST), riding a
three-game win streak, are coming off a 71 62 win over Notre Dame on Tuesday,
Jan. 23. It was Marquette's first win over the Irish in 11 games and first since
1992.
* Ellis continues to lead the team in scoring with 19.0
ppg, an average that puts her fourth on the leaderboard in scoring. The
five-time BIG EAST Honor Roll selection scored 12 points against the Irish.
* Efueko Osagie-Landry had a breakout game Tuesday
against Notre Dame registering a team high 15 points, five rebounds, five
assists and four steals.
A
Look at the Marquette Roster
5 Erin Monfre
So. G
5-11 23.8
mins 4.7 pts 2.4 rebs 3.0 asts
Scored six points against Notre Dame; her highest output
in five games
11 Janelle Harris
Fr. G 6-0
8.2 mins 2.3
pts 1.3 rebs 0.2 asts
Played 11 minutes against Notre Dame scoring three points
and two rebounds
14 Kelly Lam
RS-So. C
6-3 11.6
mins 4.0 pts 2.2 rebs 0.5 asts
Earned her first career start
at Providence.
20 Krystal Ellis*
So. G 5-9
29.5 mins
19.0 pts 3.6 rebs 4.1 asts
Scored 24 points at Providence; five-time Big East Honor
Roll selection
21 Svetlana Kovalenko
Jr. F 6-3
17.1 mins
5.2 pts 4.1 rebs 1.4 asts
In 10 minutes of action against Notre Dame, registered
four points and one rebound
22 Jocelyn Mellen
Fr. F 6-3
— — —
—
Has not seen action in
2006
24 Danielle Kamm*
Sr. F 6-2
27.5 mins
10.4 pts 5.9 rebs 2.2
asts
Led all reserves with 17 points on perfect shooting from
the floor (6-of-6) at PC
32 Efueko Osagie-Landry*
RS-Sr. F
6-0 19.5
mins 5.2 pts 5.0 rebs 1.2 asts
Has started the last three games; scored a season high 15
points against Notre Dame
34 Christina Quaye*
Sr. F 6-2
30.8 mins
15.6 pts 6.5 rebs 1.5 asts
Registered 12 points (5-7, 71.4 percent) and six rebounds
against Notre Dame
42 Marissa Thrower
So. F
5-11 12.9
mins 3.0 pts 2.2 rebs 1.0 asts
Earned first career start at
Providence
45 Jasmine McCullough*
Sr. F 6-1
22.8 mins
6.9 pts 4.2 rebs 1.4 asts
Scored six points and added
three rebounds against Notre Dame
Marquette Team Statistics
TEAM
STATISTICS MARQ
OPP
SCORING
1507
1244
Points
per game 75.3
62.2
Scoring
margin +13.2
FIELD
GOALS-ATT 530-1196
451-1192
Field
goal pct 44.3
37.8
3
POINT FG-ATT
107-314
95-339
3-point
FG pct .341
.280
3-pt
makes per 5.4
4.8
FREE
THROWS-ATT 340-462 247-352
Free
throw pct 73.6
70.2
REBOUNDS
821 694
Rebounds
per game 41.0
34.7
Rebounding
margin +6.4 -
ASSISTS
323
232
Assists
per game 16.2
11.6
TURNOVERS
296
322
Turnovers
per 14.8
16.1
Turnover
margin +1.3
Assist/turnover 1.1
0.7
STEALS 173
145
Steals
per game 8.7
7.3
BLOCKS
65
47
Blocks
per game 3.3 2.4
SCORE
BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT Total
Marquette
769 723 15 1507
Opponents
578 647 19 1244