Marquette Golden Eagles play the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in first round of NCAA Tournament

Fri, Mar 22, 2024
NCAAB News (AP)

Marquette Golden Eagles play the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in first round of NCAA Tournament

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (22-11, 11-8 CUSA) vs. Marquette Golden Eagles (25-9, 16-7 Big East)

Indianapolis; Friday, 2 p.m. EDT

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Golden Eagles -14.5; over/under is 157.5

BOTTOM LINE: No. 8 Marquette plays Western Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Golden Eagles' record in Big East games is 16-7, and their record is 9-2 in non-conference games. Marquette leads the Big East averaging 38.8 points in the paint. Oso Ighodaro leads the Golden Eagles with 10.4.

The Hilltoppers are 11-8 against CUSA opponents. Western Kentucky is 4-5 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.

Marquette's average of 8.9 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.8 more made shots on average than the 8.1 per game Western Kentucky gives up. Western Kentucky averages 6.8 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.6 fewer made shots on average than the 8.4 per game Marquette allows.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kam Jones is shooting 41.1% from beyond the arc with 2.5 made 3-pointers per game for the Golden Eagles, while averaging 16.8 points. Ighodaro is shooting 50.5% and averaging 12.1 points over the last 10 games.

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Don McHenry is shooting 46.6% and averaging 15.2 points for the Hilltoppers. Dontaie Allen is averaging 1.7 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Golden Eagles: 6-4, averaging 77.2 points, 31.6 rebounds, 14.2 assists, 8.1 steals and 3.9 blocks per game while shooting 47.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 73.4 points per game.

Hilltoppers: 6-4, averaging 80.2 points, 39.1 rebounds, 12.4 assists, 8.5 steals and 3.5 blocks per game while shooting 46.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.2 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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