No. 8 Marquette Golden Eagles at No. 6 Louisville Cardinals

NCAA Betting Preview
No. 8 Marquette Golden Eagles (23-5) at No. 6 Louisville Cardinals (22-5)
Sunday, 12:00PM Eastern

Bookmaker.com betting line -

The No. 6 Louisville Cardinals are in a tie with Connecticut among the top of the Big East standings after both Marquette and Pittsburgh lost earlier in the week. The Cardinals will need to win their last 3 games and need the Huskies to have some trouble because Connecticut would win the tie breaker due to their head to head win over the Cardinals earlier this season. That may not be much to ask for considering Connecticut still has another match-up with Pittsburgh left on the schedule. Still Louisville must handle their own business as they host a tough Marquette team on Sunday. Marquette could help their own cause and open up a 4 way tie if they could pull of the win over Louisville and get some help from Connecticut as well.

The no. 8 Marquette Golden Eagles own the number 1 scoring offense in the Big East that ranks 10th nationally posting 80.0 points per game. The Golden Eagles dangerous scoring attack is led by one of the best backcourts in all of America. Senior guards Wesley Matthews and Jerel McNeal lead the team in scoring and are also among the top 4 scorers individually in the conference. McNeal leads the team posting 20.2 points per game while Matthews adds with an equally strong 18.8 points per game. However, these two stellar guards will be squaring off with one of the best scoring defenses in America considering Louisville is only allowing 61.5 points per game on the season. Jerel McNeal will likely be up to the challenge as the Golden Eagles’ star has now scored 20 or more points in the last 11 of 12 games. Marquette was beaten twice by Louisville last season and they will try to avoid any other defeats by the Cardinals this Sunday.

The no. 6 Louisville Cardinals are coming off a very strong showing their last time out on the floor when they dominated Georgetown in a big way beating the Hoyas on their home floor 76-58. The win marked the 5th win in the last 6 games for the Cardinals who have been one of the best teams in America in the 2nd half of the regular season. Louisville is only averaging 74.2 points per game this season that ranks in the middle of the high scoring conference. However, the Cardinals rank a very close 2nd behind Connecticut in scoring defense holding opponents to only 61.5 points per game this season. The scoring defense will need to be big again when they take on a Marquette offense that has caused a lot of problems to everyone this season. Cardinals’ standouts Earl Clark and Terrence Williams lead the team both averaging 13 points and just slightly fewer than 9 rebounds. If these two players can aid the Cardinals against the glass, Louisville could slow down Marquette fast pace offense and control the tempo of the game.

What to watch for…
The aspect of the game to watch for will definitely be how the Louisville defense affects the Marquette offense. The Cardinals will need to challenge the Golden Eagles shots and definitely not allow in open looks if Marquette starts shooting well especially from the perimeter. If the Golden Eagles can not score many points in transition, they may have to rely on shooting from the outside.

Pick – Marquette