Big East Basketball: Analyzing Creighton, UConn and Villanova by the numbers

Offensive rebounding percentage

Villanova – For all the good Jeremiah Robinson Earl and Jermaine Samuels do by combining for an average of over four offensive boards a game, the Wildcats surrender almost as many offensive boards in conference play. Their team offensive rebounding percentage is 25.5 percent, while their opponents are 25.7 percent. They have not surrendered double-digit offensive rebounds in their five Big East games while giving up just two versus Seton Hall (not included in calculations).

Out of the four games included in the calculations, the Wildcats have tallied more offensive rebounds in half of them. Defensively it makes sense that the Wildcats surrender the second-least offensive boards as they allow the fewest field-goal attempts in the Big East. This is why the percentage is important and why the Wildcats are still among the top-20 of all Division I teams throughout all the schedule they have played.

Creighton – The Bluejays and the Wildcats are so close in offensive rebounding percentage that the calculations had to go to two decimal points to figure out the winner. The outcome leaned in favor of the Wildcats, but the similarities stem from the fact they are the top two three-point shooting teams n the Big East. For all the buzz about Creighton’s three-point shooting, they shoot four fewer per game than Villanova and attempt over ten more two-pointers per game.

The Bluejay’s downfall is their only two players over 6’9 combine for a total of twenty minutes per game. This downfall transcends to their difficulty to clean the glass of defensive rebounds as well. By surrendering an offensive board almost 30 percent of the time they surrender over 12-second. chance opportunities per game.

UCONN – Tyrese Martin and Isaiah Whaley have had their way on the boards versus opponents this season. Their greatest contribution is on the offensive boards as collectively they average over six offensive rebounds per game, while guard Bouknight was grabbing over two offensive boards a game.

Overall they are fifth in the nation and in Big East play their 38.9 percent is the reason why they are the top offensive rebounding team. On the defensive end, they have the worst opponent offensive rebounding percentage among the Big East contenders at 39 percent. While it is difficult to get a quality shot off versus the Huskies, 30 percent of the time it does not have to be good, because their opponent will get the rebound.

Team ORB percentage: UCONN beats Creighton / ‘Nova beats Creighton / UCONN beats ‘Nova

Opp. ORB percentage: Creighton beats UCONN / ‘Nova beats Creighton / ‘Nova beats Creighton