Marquette’s women’s basketball team will end its three-game home stand Sunday afternoon when they host the Villanova Wildcats inside the Al McGuire Center on #Play4Kay Day.
The Golden Eagles are coming off a game against Georgetown where they won in convincing fashion, 68-32.
Graduate student guard Karissa McLaughlin had a team high 21 points in the outing and surpassed 1,500 career points in the game. Sophomore guard Rose Nkumu, who’s made two consecutive starts, had a career high in both assists and steals with nine and four respectively. Nkumu also added four points to her stat sheet.
Meanwhile, Villanova (8-6, 2-3 BIG EAST) they enter Sunday’s matinee coming off a 75-63 loss to DePaul Friday. Junior forward Maddy Siegrist had 20 first-half points for the Wildcats to give them a 33-30 lead going into the break. Siegrist would then go on to score the opening basket of the second half before DePaul went on a 12-2 run to take the lead and never look back.
Siegrist finished the night with a double-double, scoring 31 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Sophomore forward Lior Garzon also had a double-double, finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Fun Facts:
- After finishing 17-7, 9-5 in BIG EAST play last season, Villanova was picked to finish fifth in the conferences Preseason Coaches poll.
- The Golden Eagles are a perfect 9-0 at home this season.
- Marquette ranks No. 13 in the country for assists per game (18.5) and tied for No. 15 in the country in rebound margin.
- Villanova graduate forward Brianna Herlihy ranks third in the BIG EAST with 8.6 rebounds per contest.
- Under head coach Megan Duffy, the Golden Eagles are 44-1 when leading at halftime and 30-3 when they turn the ball over fewer times than their opponent.
- Despite missing the month of November due to an injury, Siegrist is averaging a team-high 23.9 points and 10 rebounds in eight games this season.
A look back:
- Marquette went 2-0 against Villanova last season
- The Golden Eagles have won four the last five games against the Wildcats
- Sunday’s matchup will be the 29th all-time meeting between both programs. Marquette leads the all-time series 18-10.
Keys to the game:
- Marquette: Crash the boards. Villanova ranks in the lower end of the BIG EAST in rebounding while also ranked last in the conference in field goal percentage.
- Marquette: Win the turnover battle. Villanova is one of the best teams in the BIG EAST when it comes to not turning the ball over, averaging just 14 turnovers per game.(Where does that put them ranking wise in the BIG EAST?) Marquette is 6-1 when winning the turnover battle and 5-3 when they lose the turnover battle.
- Villanova: Keep Marquette from scoring 59 or more points(Might be a bit too specific or maybe just round it to 60). The fewest points Marquette has scored in a win was 59 points and that’s happened three times this season. In their losses Marquette is averaging 50 points and so if Villanova can keep them in that area there’s a good chance, they’ll leave Milwaukee victorious.
- Villanova: Let Siegrist do what she does. In the seven games that Siegrist has played in this year, Villanova has gone 5-1 when she’s scored more than 20 points.
How to follow:
- Watch: CBS Sports Network
- Listen: John Leuzzi and Ben Schultz will have the call on Marquette Radio. Go to marquettewire.org/mur to listen.
- Live Updates on Twitter: @JacksonGrossMU and @MUWireSports
This article was written by Ben Schultz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @benschultz52.
