BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Georgetown vs Marquette

March 9, 2006


Georgetown will look to start the game this afternoon better than it did yesterday when they found themselves down 11-0 to start the game. They managed to come back and ride the play of Brandon Bowman to defeat Notre Dame and earn a shot at Marquette in the quarterfinals. Marquette was the benefeciary of Georgetown's surprising loss at South Florida in the regular season finale to earn the 4th bye in their first Big East Conference Tournament as a member of the Big East. These two teams met in the Bradley Center in the regular season and Marquette came up big down the stretch for a 57-51 win.

Here are some pregame stories and previews from around the internet:

Crean Tells Golden Eagles to Enjoy Garden Party



To read our preview and see our game prediction, click read more below and don't forget to leave your prediction in the comments section!

READ OUR PREVIEW...CLICK "Read More" BELOW


Back on February 16 when these two teams met, Jeff Green had a game he would rather forget. Georgetown's best all-around talent shot just 1-6 from the floor, grabbed 6 rebounds and committed 8 turnovers. In fact, other than Roy Hibbert, none of the Hoyas had a particulary good outing, as the rest of the team, besides Hibbert who scored 17 pts on 8-10 shooting, shot 13-42 from the line and 5-21 from 3-pt range in their 6-pt loss.

Marquette rode Steve Novak's 5-8 performance from beyond the arc and his 19 pts overall to earn the victory. Dominic James added 16 and Jerel McNeal 10 in the win. The young Golden Eagles are going to have to adjust to playing in the Garden quickly and can not be awestruck of their surroundings tonight. One thing has been for certain all season, Marquette has no been in awe of too many situations.

For Georgetown to be successful, they need to establish Hibbert early and often. Even though he got 17 pts and 8 rebounds in the first meeting, the Hoyas went LONG stretches without feeding him the ball. Marquette and Tom crean will rotate Ousmane Barro, Chris Grimm, Ryan Amoroso and anyone else they can on him, hoping to wear him down and body up the big 7'2 center in hopes of containing him. From there, the Hoyas will look to Jeff Green and Brandon Bowman to use their size against a smaller Marquette frontline. If Georgetown is forced to go small and match-up with the quicker Marquette line-up, the Hoyas could be in some trouble. Bowman is coming off a 25-pt performance in their opening win over Notre Dame. Green will have the tough task of shadowing Novak on the perimeter and if the Hoyas turn to their match-up zone to prevent the ultra-quick James from achieving dribble penetration against the Georgetown guards, the Hoyas better know where Novak is at all times.

Marquette will look to use their supreme quickness to get the Hoyas out of their flow. Georgetown is a unique team to play against as they really look to slow down the game. Marquette is much better suited to playing in a wide open environment and FAST. James' dribble penetration is one of the best weapons in the league and Novak is the league's best 3-pt shooter. They will need have help from Jerel McNeal, Joe Chapman and Wesley Mathews offensively as they will need to be patient on both ends of the floor.

Georgetown opens as a 2-pt favorite today and the Hoyas are a difficult match-up as one of the truly unique conference teams. Marquette has been playing really well of late and have stood up to every new challenge they have faced this season. The duo of Novak and James has been special to watch all season and really has made their team into the surprise of the league. Today, however, I am going to side on the experience of Georgetown here. I think Hibbert will be able to establish himself offensively early on and Jeff Green comes to play today. This is going to be a very good game with two teams that should doe very well in the NCAA Tournament. I think Marquette is better suited for next week than this week and has a very tough match-up today. Tempo is the key, so I will side with the defense, experience and rebounding, but it will not be easy, for either team.

NBE Blogger Prediction:

Georgetown 66 Marquette 62