#15 Marquette (3-0) vs. Maryland (3-0)
When: Nov. 15, 2024 | 8:00 PM
Where: Xfinity Center
TV: FS1 | Brandon Gaudin (pxp), Bill Raftery (analyst)
Radio: One Maryland App | 105.7 FM (Baltimore) | 980 AM (DC) | SiriusXM 380
Betting: Maryland -1.5 | O/U: 146
Maryland first big test of the 2024-25 season is here as they welcome 15th-ranked Marquette to the Xfinity Center as head coach Kevin Willard looks for his sixth win over a top-25 team since taking over as head coach.
Friday’s matchup will mark the second all-time matchup between the two teams after Maryland pulled out a 21-point win in the Orlando Invitation back in 2019. Friday will also serve as a homecoming of sorts with Deandre Haynes, former Maryland and current Marquette assistant, back in College Park. Willard is 12-14 all-time vs. Marquette, while this will mark the first game against Maryland for Smart.
Led by fourth-year head coach Shaka Smart fresh off his 350th career win, the Golden Eagles entered the 2024-25 season looking to build off their Sweet 16 appearance from a season ago after being picked to finish fourth in the preseason Big East standings.
Marquette is coming off consecutive wins against Stony Brook, George Mason and Central Michigan to open the season ahead of their first road test. Kam Jones, a preseason Big East First Team selection, leads the way with a team-high 6.3 assists along with s one of three averaging double figures with 22.7 points on nearly 68% shooting from field. Jones’ 32 points in the season opener marked his fifth career 30-point game of his career.
Senior David Joplin sits second on the team averaging 15.3 points per game, including 27 points and ten rebounds in the second-half surge vs. George Mason in game two. Chase Ross, who matches Joplin’s season-average scoring, has been a big piece of Marquette’s answer on the boards as he and Joplin account for 35% of the team’s rebounds. Stevie Mitchell, one of three starters shooting above 56% from the field, is on the cusp of becoming the fourth player averaging double-figures after posting 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting vs. Central Michigan.
Ben Gold – who Maryland freshman Derik Queen said “just wants to shoot, he [doesn’t] want to do [nothing] else” – rounds out Marquette’s expected starting five as he enters Friday averaging eight points on a team-low 26.9% shooting. Marquette’s depth has shown flashes after freshman Royce Parham – a former Maryland target – finished with a career-high nine points in just 13 minutes vs. Central Michigan, yet the starters have shouldered the load after accounting for 84% of the team’s scoring this season.
Maryland, meanwhile, is coming off consecutive 30-point wins for the first time in program history after watching a different starter lead the team in scoring each game. But on Friday night, Maryland will look to capitalize in the paint with the Baltimore tandem – Derik Queen and Julian Reese – leading the frontcourt as the Terps look to capitalize on the size advantage in the paint. Ja’Kobi Gillespie will also look to prove command of the Terps’ offense against one of the nation’s top guards in his toughest assignment in a Maryland uniform, but Maryland will also look to lean on its defense to slow down Marquette. Maryland enters Friday leading the conference fifth in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom.
“I want to see our defense translate to the next level I think more than anything,” Willard said when asked what his team can prove.
But with a chance to secure the first win against a ranked team since defeating Illinois in Champagne last season, a chance for the new-look Terps to secure an early season statement win looms largest.
“Playing in a different environment is probably the next biggest thing. Playing in front of fans is something that we're going to see. And so our guys getting used to it and being ready for that is something that, I want to see how they react to that a little bit too because it's a different feeling in this building obviously, for a Marquette than a Florida A&M. And that's not a negative connotation. It's just reality of college basketball.”
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