Three keys to the game

Limit the good looks Florida gets on the perimeter

The Gators are going to shoot the 3-pointer and shoot it often. They average 25.5 three-point attempts per game and make 9.8 of them, which is best in the country. Just make sure junior forward Erik Murphy (43.1 percent) and junior guard Kenny Boynton (41.5 percent) don’t get too many open looks from behind the arc.

If Florida comes out guns blazing from distance like Notre Dame did against Marquette on Feb. 4, the Golden Eagles will have a tough time winning. However, the Gators have struggled in NCAA Tournament play, shooting just 27.5 percent from three as a team in two games, compared to 38.3 percent during the regular season.

Hold the Gators below 70 points

This will be a near impossible task, as both teams average at least 75.9 points per game, and this game will likely be played into the 80s. However, Florida has won just five of its 25 games this year when it scores 69 points or less, compared to eight such wins for Marquette.

Except for an 85-83 double-overtime loss at Rutgers, the Gators average just 65 points in their nine losses, so it is certainly possible to limit Florida’s high-powered offensive attack.

A good place for Marquette to start would be to limit the trio of Boynton, freshman Bradley Beal and senior Erving Walker. The three average 42.8 points per game and scored an astounding 77 points in Florida’s 98-68 win over Arkansas.

Keep up the defensive pressure

The rest of the country found out what Marquette fans have known all along: The Golden Eagles play scrappy, hard-nosed defense. Florida does a good job of protecting the ball, averaging just 11 turnovers per game, but is 5-7 in games in which it has a negative assist-to-turnover ratio.

Marquette forced BYU and Murray State to turn the ball over 17 and 16 times, respectively, in its two wins last weekend and must create transition opportunities with its defense to excel against Florida.

The Gators allowed just two fast break points to both Virginia and Norfolk State in convincing wins last weekend, but will be hard pressed to keep that number as low against Marquette.

Three players to watch

Kenny Boynton, junior guard #1

Boynton is the team’s leading scorer (16.1 points per game) and has tallied double digits in every game but six this year, including a season-high 26 in back-to-back games against Rutgers and Yale in December.

However, after scoring 20 points in a 63-47 win over Auburn on Feb. 21, Boynton is averaging just 10.4 points per game in the seven games since that win.

The junior guard is prone to volume shooting, taking 404 shots in 34 games this year, and will certainly take a few head-scratching shots against Marquette tonight.

Mike Rosario, redshirt junior guard #3

Rosario, a transfer from Rutgers, averages 6.8 points per game off the bench for Florida and will have an even bigger role tonight due to the Gators’ loss of sophomore forward Will Yeguete, who broke his foot on Feb. 21.

Rosario hasn’t exactly relished his role as a catalyst off the bench since Yeguete’s injury, however, averaging just 4.6 points per game in the seven games Yeguete has missed.

If Marquette can get any of the Gators’ three starting guards into foul trouble and force coach Billy Donovan to go to Rosario and the rest of the team’s bench, it will go a long way in helping Marquette advance.

Patric Young, sophomore forward #4

Young has the height and body to be a dominant post player, but has yet to develop into one in his second season in Gainesville, Fla. The 6-foot-9 big man is not an outside threat and is somehow second in the team in rebounding (6.4 rebounds per game), behind Beal, who is six inches shorter.

Young shoots 61.8 percent from the field, but Florida doesn’t look for him to score as often as it should, instead normally settling for 3-pointers. So far in the NCAA Tournament, he is 8-for-9 from the field in two games and has scored over 20 points just twice this year. If you are Marquette, you have to make Young beat you.