The Marquette Golden Eagles and Kansas Jayhawks will meet in Brooklyn as part of the National Invitation Tournament Season Tip-Off on Wednesday night, pinning a pair of top-25 teams against each other in an exciting early season bout.
Kansas has gotten off to a strong start, including a win over Michigan State, and remains an early season favorite to cut down the nets at the end of the season just as they were in the preseason. As for Marquette, on the other side, they had a hiccup against Indiana. They’ve done well against their lesser competition, but the Jayhawks offer another test.
Kansas will be favored by a nice margin in this one. Can the Golden Eagles surprise and push this one to the final minute? Or will Kansas continue to roll through Marquette just as they did Michigan State earlier this year? This will be a fun one to watch and you can get a piece of the action with all the latest odds and spreads, as well as with live betting opportunities, at BookMaker.eu.
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Marquette Golden Eagles vs. Kansas Jayhawks
Date and Time: Wednesday, November 21, 2018, 7 p.m. ET
Location: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
College Basketball Odds: Check Back Later
Golden Eagles vs. Jayhawks TV Coverage: ESPN2
A great group of transfers and strong recruiting class has helped Kansas replenish the talent of Devonte Graham, Svi Mykhailuik and Malik Newman, whom are all no longer on the team.
This is a Final Four team that lost plenty of talent, but is arguably better than last season, at least in terms of talent. The question all along was whether this group would be able to find a way to play well together early or if it would take a bit of time. As it turns out, this team is already playing great basketball. It’s a prestigious basketball program sporting one of its better rosters. This could be a great year to be a Jayhawk. As for right now, things are going pretty well.
The team is rather young on the outside, but there’s enough experience on the roster to overcome that.
Kansas got out of the gate quickly this season with a win over Michigan State 92-87 as the offense rolled in the State Farm Champions Classic.
The Jayhawks shot 44.9-percent from the floor against the Spartans and an even more impressive 43.5-percent beyond the arc. Quentin Grimes immediately showed his potential with a team leading 21 points as he sank six of his 10 chances from deep. Dedric Lawson dominated inside. He managed to get to the line 12 times and made 10 shots while posting a double-double, scoring 20 points with 14 rebounds.
Lawson came into the season with a lot of hype after his strong performance in the 2016-2017 season with Memphis. It looks like sitting out hasn’t impacted him at all.
Through the first three games, Lawson has averaged 13 points and nine rebounds. He’s one of four players with double digit PPG numbers early, joined by Udoka Azubuike in the paint who leads the team with nine blocks and has 19 PPG and 7.3 RPG. On the outside, Lagerald Vick is shooting 61.5-percent from the floor and 62.5-percent from three-point range with 22.3 PPG while Quentin Grimes leads the way in assists and has been solid early, particularly from beyond the arc.
On the other side of this matchup, the Golden Eagles haven’t gotten off to as strong a start. They lost to Indiana in Bloomington by 23 points, struggling on the perimteter in that contest.
Overall, Marquette’s offense hasn’t been great early and could struggle to keep pace with Kansas. The team’s shooting okay from the floor, but hasn’t put up any overly impressive numbers, even against lesser competition. From three-point range, the team is only shooting 33.6-percent.
Joey Hauser has been very good in his freshman seasons, getting plenty of early playing time and delivering. He and his brother, Sam Hauser, have both shown versatility. The pair of forwards have been efficient inside, but have both shown a high level of efficiency and the ability to shoot. In the younger Hauser’s case, a bit better than early reports indicated.
In addition to the brothers, Markus Howard has been a star early this season. In his four games, he’s scored 80 points, nabbed 23 rebounds, and recorded 22 assists.
Live Betting
Look for Kansas to continue to put points on the board as a result of a fast pace of play and excellent offensive weapons both inside the paint and on the perimeters. The young starts have stepped up in a grand fashion to minimize the loss of a trio of talented players. The question here is: can Marquette keep up?
Perhaps as troubling as the lack of offense against Indiana was a defense that allowed the Hoosiers to score 96 points and shoot well over 60-percent from the floor. Marquette’s defense has been a question the last few years, too. Against a team like Kansas there could be a ton of points scored.
Count on Marquette to try and be aggressive early on offense and set the tone in this one, but Kansas is too good of a team to let that happen. If the Golden Eagles can slow the pace of this one a bit, they could keep this game closer, making them a solid bet ATS, but if Kansas continues to roll as they have to this point and the Marquette defense shows no improvement, this could be a long night for Marquette. In that case, take the Jayhawks to run away with this one SU and ATS at BookMaker.eu.
Key Player
The Jayhawks have too many players that can step up and carry a team on any given night to have a single key player in a matchup like this. Kansas should win unless the Golden Eagles get a dynamic, team-carrying performance and the best bet for something like that is Markus Howard.
Howard will be matched up inside against a rather young Kansas backcourt. That could open a few doors for the junior guard.
Although short in stature, Howard’s proven himself in his college career as well as this season. He dominated against Bethune-Cookman and played well against Indiana, too, though he did struggle beyond the arc.
If Marquette is to upset Kansas in this one, Howard needs to shoot better from the perimeter than he did against the Hoosiers. Howard gives the team a chance to win the battle on the outside and that’s paramount.
Golden Eagles vs. Jayhawks Live Betting
This new look Kansas team has come together quickly. We saw them beat Michigan State quite handily and could do the same against a good, but not great, Marquette team.
The Golden Eagles have some issues on defense and the offense has been spotting shooting the ball as well. That’s not a good formula against one of college hoops’ truly elite teams. Look for Kansas to cruise past Marquette in this one.
Marquette will struggle to defend Kansas’s strong shooting both at the rim and from beyond the arc. This team can sink shots all over the court and the Golden Eagles haven’t shown they can do that.
Check out all of the live betting at BookMaker.eu for Wednesday’s college basketball.
NCAA Basketball Score Prediction: Kansas 88, Marquette 73
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