Defend the Three-Point Line
The Golden Eagles are a very adept three-point shooting team that will make a lot of threes. They always have a lot of shooters on the floor, and the transition threes and threes and offensive rebound kickouts are how they break the will of many of their opponents and extend leads. Dayton doesn’t shoot as many threes as Marquette, but the ones they do are making at almost 40% of the clip during the season. The one thing that could change this game is Dayton making a ton of threes and keeping this game close.
It was mentioned earlier that the Flyers don’t play fast and like to slow the pace down. The Flyers move the ball and will always work for the best shot. It is imperative that Marquette defends the three-point line and doesn’t over-commit too much on the defensive end. Dayton will find their shooters, and those guys are likely going to make the shot. Nate Santos and Enoch Cheeks are both shooting just under 50% from deep and have both taken about 50 threes for the year.
This game may very well come down to who can make the most threes, as most games do anymore; Dayton could pull the upset if they can make a ton of threes, especially if they pick their spots. Marquette can not get complacent on the defensive end, or this one will be a lot closer than they want it to be. Lucky for the Golden Eagles is that Coach Smart preaches defense and Marquette is very good on that end of the floor. Either way, this will be one of the best games of the weekend.