#14 UB @ Marquette (12/21 - 8:30 ET)

[Jeseph]

Let’s keep the magic rolling. After facing that obnoxious Syracuse zone it’s going to be fun to watch this team run again and have some fun.

This will likely be the best team we face in the regular season and is obviously another TOUGH road test, but this UB team is special. Can Dontay and Devonte cause Howard to struggle??

85-79 Bulls

[BrazenBull]

Marquette has two wins against ranked teams so far this month. This game is key to resolving some uneasy feelings that I have about this team and their current ranking. A win would be phenomenal, historic. Possibly landing them in the top 10? Crazy to think. 

81-76 Bulls. 

[mikescherrer8]

Anyone know what kind of defense Marquette runs? 

[squire17]

1 hour ago, mikescherrer8 said:

Anyone know what kind of defense Marquette runs? 

Mostly man according to Pomeroy.

[pottier25]

Imagine what the winning streak may become if they get past Marquette? 20-0 ? 25-0? It would be possible. They'd  be top 10 in the next poll. 

[mikescherrer8]

21 minutes ago, pottier25 said:

Imagine what the winning streak may become if they get past Marquette? 20-0 ? 25-0? It would be possible. They'd  be top 10 in the next poll. 

If they beat Marquette, there is a very good possibility that they're going 31-0 through conference play. 

[Jeseph]

We start the season with EMU (zone) and Toledo (good record against a weak OOC schedule). If we #BeatMarquette, beat Canisius and start 2-0... the sky is the limit.

Then again it's the MAC... there are always going to be tough games on the road.

[mikescherrer8]

4 minutes ago, Jeseph said:

We start the season with EMU (zone) and Toledo (good record against a weak OOC schedule)

EMU does play zone but they're 2-5 against D-1 schools and have regressed greatly since last year. And you're right about Toledo, I don't think they have really been tested at all this year and have played a competent defense. Both of these should be wins.

 

6 minutes ago, Jeseph said:

Then again it's the MAC... there are always going to be tough games on the road.

A team in the MAC I am worried about is Ball State. Competed well against Purdue and Virginia Tech, but, have also beaten weaker mid major schools. Nonetheless, they have a talent group this year. That should be a real good game.

[hurley]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. One game at a time. Our guys our going to be tired.  Yesterday was by far the most our starters have played all year and have a quick turn around for our hardest game of the year. We need a really big game from our bench as they really struggled against Syracuse.  

Just by looking at this teams stats you can see it's pretty clear how this team operates I expect to see a lot of:

Markus Howard attacking the rim and kicking it out to the perimeter to their big guys (who appear to be brothers) that are both 6'8 and shoot above 40% from 3pt.  Great opportunity for Jordan to continue to show he can lock down NBA level talent on Howard and for Caruthers to have a bounce back game.  If we can 20 turnovers we win this game easily.  15+ turnovers and it's close but I think we pull it out. 

[cheese_66]

I think this is a game where we match up really well. Marquette is a very perimeter oriented team. The key I think is going to be keeping Jordan and Caruthers out of foul trouble, which will be a challenge considering how good Howard is at getting to the line. But this is the perfect game to have multiple suffocating on ball defenders.

[rma]

We are the best MAC team right now, but that doesn’t mean we run through MAC play. Remember we lost @NIU last year

[Jeseph]

This is a "nothing to lose" game IMO. Lay it all on the line, play loose, play fast but play in control (fouls and TOs).

[Kevin]

This might be a "more their style" game. 

On ball/off ball defend Howard like we did Battle. Double Howard all game with our ferocious guard play. 

 Let the Hauser forwards get theirs. They really don't have scorers beyond those three, a similar approach to last night. They score like  6 bench points per game. 

Edited December 19, 2018 by Kevin

[MKBullsfan]

Need to come ready to play. Keep it rolling. Bulls in top 10 after this. Stay focused. 

[ATL_92]

I doubt we go through conference play undefeated.  Everyone will be giving us their best shot and then some!!

 

Edited December 19, 2018 by ATL_92
typo

[Jeseph]

Well now we've got Nate Robinson juju to help us on Friday lol

 

[squire17]

The odds of the Bulls going undefeated until the NCAAs are remote. But can you imagine the pressure if they, indeed, did enter as an undefeated team. I never want to see them lose, but on the other hand one or two losses are almost certain and could be helpful even - just as long as it doesn’t happen in March. Looking for another close game against Marquette. An earlier post mentioned the hazard of Carruthers and Jordan getting into foul trouble. The same could be said for Perkins, McRae, and any of the Bulls really except for Harris maybe. Still looking for a game where Buffalo is smoking from the outside early.

[pottier25]

I may have missed it but does anyone know what Nate was doing there?

[xDerekRx]

4 hours ago, Jeseph said:

This is a "nothing to lose" game IMO. Lay it all on the line, play loose, play fast but play in control (fouls and TOs).

I would agree with this. We got the Syracuse win I wanted the most. Im not stressed about Marquette. If we lose and put up a great fight, Ill be super happy. And likely we will remain ranked.

But damn lets keep the dream season rolling and get this W too.

[xDerekRx]

2 hours ago, ATL_92 said:

I doubt we go through conference play undefeated.  Everyone will be giving us their best shot and then some!!

 

Yeah even if we beat Marquette a couple losses by seasons end is always possible. MAC is tough regardless how good you are especially on the road. Heck even during Kent States Elite 8 run, we beat them :)

I dont know exactly how many games we have this year or could have but going like 29-2 aint bad at all. And you wanna go even further if we did that and lost in the MAC finals (would probably be heartbreaking after having that good of a season...) I think at large would be pretty real.

If we go undefeated (way ahead of ourselves) we could be like St Joes years ago when they were ranked #1 (i think Jameer Nelson ran team?) But they ended up being a weak #1 seed and I think lost fairly quick. Im not saying we would get to #1... they had some strength of the A-10 conference to boost them there.

The thing that could help us alot is sweeping Toledo and then having the Rockets only lose 4-5 all season.

[UB85]

One game at a time! Go Bulls!

[MKBullsfan]

Honestly, I rather us lose a few games in conference just so the team can stay hungry going into the tournament. If they are undefeated and lose say in the second round, that would be horrible and people will forget about their great regular season. I rather us lose in the regular season and then make it to say the final four. Thats more memorable. 

[weareub46]

One game at a time for sure. Let’s give Marquette all we’ve got. 

Doubt we will make it through MAC play unscathed and I think that’s for the better. Give us a couple losses to stay humble and focused and not get too cocky. Then don’t lose in either tournament 🙂

[hurley]

I think we're underestimating the importance of this game.  It's been a euphoric season, but like almost all teams in all seasons they are susceptible to tough stretches, similar to that of how Gonzaga has played recently. If we lose this game, then hit a rough stretch where we lose 2 in a week or something in conference play and lose in the conference championship then we'll be sweating Sunday.

This game puts as an absolute lock and likely keeps up in top 25 even if we lose to Toledo on January 8th.  Their will be no naysayers if come Sunday this week we're still undefeated. Not only that if we win this game we have a serious chance of getting anywhere between a 4-6 seed which is where we want to be so we can avoid playing a 1 or 2 seed in second round. It's unlikely we'll fall to a double digit seed if we did win the MAC and that would land us as an 7-9 (10-12 if we were an at-large).  As a 4/5/6 it is significantly easier path to a second weekend which should be the goal of the season.  Anything beyond that is a welcomed addition.

 

Lets finish up 2018 with a 0 in the loss column!

 

 

[BullsFan14]

HUGE game. Just about the biggest game of the season in my mind when it comes to at-large potential and solidifying that UB is the real deal (crazy to say that given we have some quality wins already). Marquette plays similar to us.  It seems a lot of their strategy will be getting UB into foul trouble early to take pressure off guards. 

I want to see them hungry for this game. More than Bonaventure, more than Syracuse, more than Arizona. We need big games from Jordan and Caruthers. If Harris can hit 40% from 3-pt range that would certainly help too. 

Most importantly, TURNOVERS, they had 22 turnovers against North Dakota. If we can get them in trouble with that, I can't see them keeping up with our transition.

As the great Oats says, "We're the better team, we play harder."