Head coach Kevin Willard is hours away from leading his team into their first test of the 2024-25 season with 15th-ranked Marquette headed to the Xfinity Center for an 8 PM tip on Friday night.
All eyes are on the starting fives for both teams with Maryland, on paper, able to control the boards and paint with Julian Reese and Derik Queen leading the way. Marquette’s starters, though, have dominated the scoring to open the season with Big Ten Player of the Year candidate Kam Jones leading the way. Friday night will also be a battle between two teams ranked inside the top ten nationally in turnover margin with the Terps (4th, +12.3) just ahead of the Golden Eagles (9th, +10.3). So what should Terp fans look out for on Friday?
“I want to see the Terps continue what they've been doing offensively. They've had three different leading scorers in their first three games from Derik Queen, Rodney Rice to Julian Reese. I want to see Derik Queen and Julian Reese dominate the inside,” BTN analyst Rapheal Davis. “You look at Marquette, you understand they're a little smaller so those guys should have their way. And then on the defensive side, you know Maryland always brings in. Kam Jones is a bucket getter of Maryland they have enough guys to kind of throw at them to slow him down.”
The betting line has bounced between 1.5 and two points on Friday morning with the Terps favored as they look to move to 31-7 at home under Kevin Willard.
“Playing in a different environment is probably the next biggest thing,” Willard said during Wednesday’s media availability. “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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