Big East Basketball: 2020-21 power rankings heading into New Year
7. Marquette 5-5 (1-3)
Marquette is a tough study. For one, they own a pair of the best wins of just about any team in college basketball with victories over a top-five Wisconsin team and a top 15 Creighton squad for the Golden Eagles lone Big East conference triumph.
Since the Creighton victory, however, Marquette has lost three in a row, and in its two latest defeats to Xavier and Villanova respectively, they’ve given up 91 and 85 points. It’s safe to say that the problems lie at the defensive end for this team and that is further supported by their 254th national defensive rating.
All that said, there is real potential for Marquette to climb the big East ladder as this season progresses. The freshmen tandem of Dawson Garcia (12.7 Pts, 6.7 Reb, 1.0 As) and Justin Lewis (8.3 Pts, 6.2 Reb, 1.2 Ast) is arguably the best in the conference, and Ohio State transfer DJ Carton (11.8 Pts, 3.4 Reb, 3.6 Ast) has looked good but is still finding his true fit in the offense next to leading scorer Koby McEwen (14.2 Pts, 3.7 Reb, 2.8 Ast).
Marquette takeaways so far in 2020-21. light. Related Story
McEwen’s ascent from role player to number one scoring options has been impressive. He’s improved his FG percentage from 33% to 46% and his 3-point percentage from 29% to 44%. At those efficiency rates, an argument can be made that McEwen should be shooting more with his usage rates behind both Carton and Garcia on the season.
The Golden Eagles have proved something a lot of teams have not this season. They can win big games against high-level competition. If they can find some semblance of consistency and hover around .500 in the BE, this will be a squad with a tough resume to keep out of the NCAA Tournament and is a team nobody is going to want to play.