Okay, so look. Marquette isn’t going to shoot 61% on three-pointers each single sport for the remainder of the 12 months.
BUT
Sunday in opposition to Villanova was the second time this season that Marquette has linked on over 60% of their three-point makes an attempt, and the second time in Big East competitors, too. The Golden Eagles have hit not less than 33% of their lengthy vary pictures in all however two video games this 12 months — massive shock, the 2 are Minnesota and UConn — they usually’ve hit not less than 38% in eight of their 15 video games.
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At this level, it’s shocking when the pictures aren’t happening for the Golden Eagles.
But Marquette has to have the ability to do greater than hit pictures in the event that they need to win ball video games. 6-for-17 (35%) capturing wasn’t sufficient to beat St. John’s, identical in opposition to Gonzaga in Florida earlier this season. To be fairly trustworthy about it: Marquette’s protection isn’t fairly as powerful because it was final season. The Golden Eagles completed the 12 months at #30 in BartTorvik’s defensive effectivity rankings a 12 months in the past, and now halfway by way of Cara Consuegra’s second season in cost, Marquette is hanging out within the mid-50s. Teams are capturing it just a bit too nicely in opposition to MU, particularly contained in the arc.
If Marquette can discover a solution to recapture a few of that defensive magic and pair it with this nice capturing — 4 gamers making an attempt not less than two three-pointers per sport AND capturing over 37%! — then perhaps they’ll actually get one thing cooking over the following 14 video games heading into the postseason.
Hey, facet be aware: What do you suppose the chances are that Halle Vice places up a fourth straight double-double? It can be her fifth within the final six video games, too. I don’t suppose Marquette wants her to do this to win, however I believe it will be very useful, proper?
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Big East Game #7: vs Creighton Bluejays (7-8, 3-3 Big East)
Date: Thursday, January 8, 2026
Time: 7pm Central
Location: Al McGuire Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Television: truTV, with Cindy Brunson, Christy Winters-Scott, and Chelsea Sherrod calling the motion
Streaming: truTV.com/WatchtruTV or HBO Max
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle
Marquette is 14-19 all time in opposition to Creighton. The Bluejays have gained 4 of the final 5 conferences between the 2 groups, including last year in Omaha.
There’s not less than a bit proof to recommend that Creighton has stabilized the route of their season since Kiani Lockett suffered what is now officially a season ending knee injury again in November. Things didn’t begin nicely for the Jays, shedding by 16 to South Dakota State within the opener, by 34 to Nebraska, after which by one at house to Northern Iowa within the sport the place Lockett suffered her damage. After that, they misplaced on the street by 9 to UNLV as nicely.
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But since then, issues have gotten a bit bit higher. Not by way of document essentially, because the Bluejays have gone simply 6-4 within the interim, however by way of pc numbers. Their Game Scores as calculated by BartTorvik.com are trending a lot better, with not one of the video games scoring as poorly because the losses to SDSU or Nebraska. Their rankings on Torvik bottomed out at #108 after the UNLV sport, however they’re as much as #88 as I sort this on Wednesday morning. After the UNLV sport, Creighton dipped as little as #110 over at Her Hoop Stats, however they’re as much as #69 now. The NET debuted on November thirtieth, not lengthy after the UNLV sport, and the Jays have been #186 on the time. Now? #95. Not nice, clearly, however once more: Much improved over the previous 5 weeks.
This season was at all times going to be a barely bizarre one for Creighton given what number of extremely essential seniors they misplaced from final 12 months, and throwing within the further wrench of shedding Lockett early on might have actually despatched issues right into a tailspin. That hasn’t occurred to them, so full credit score and marks for shifting the needle in a optimistic route because the season goes alongside. They’ve even had a little bit of an additional stage of issue thrown in currently, as freshman Ava Zediker, who’s main the workforce in scoring and is tops in assists with Lockett out, has missed the final two video games. One was a ten level loss at Villanova — might have occurred together with her — and an 8 level house win in opposition to Butler again on Sunday. That was an enormous battle again sport for Creighton, as they have been down 10 within the second quarter, however flipped the led by halftime and went up 9 in a short time within the third quarter.
If Zediker stays out, then Neleigh Gessert turns into Creighton’s main scorer, though there’s a bit little bit of a query about that. For instance: She put up 25 factors in opposition to Villanova however simply 5 in opposition to Butler despite the fact that her minutes in her first two begins of the season have been primarily the identical. The catch? Gessert went 7-for-10 behind the arc in opposition to the Wildcats however 0-for-3 in opposition to the Bulldogs. She’s a 40% shooter on the 12 months averaging almost eight makes an attempt per sport despite the fact that she had been coming off the bench, so clearly Gessert must be defended rigorously, however she’s been on far ends of the spectrum the final two occasions out.
The different catch to defending Neleigh Gessert? Her twin sister Norah. She’s solely a 30% three-point shooter this season on lower than three makes an attempt per sport in about 18 minutes an evening, and she or he bought her first two begins within the final two video games as nicely. This is Marquette’s first time seeing Creighton this season, and thus the primary time attempting to determine find out how to defend the 2 freshman look-alike six-footers with deeply various capturing stats.
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Big Picture: This Creighton workforce is a step again from what we’ve seen from Jim Flanery’s squads the previous a number of years. They don’t have the excessive effectivity offense, they usually don’t have the “good enough for that offense” protection on the opposite finish, both. The challenge on offense isn’t the three-point capturing, they’re nonetheless hitting these they usually’re nonetheless taking a ton of them. The Bluejays don’t have two-point scoring this time round, so if MU can power them into dangerous appears from deep and restrict them to only as soon as likelihood — CU doesn’t get on the offensive glass a lot anyway — then issues ought to work out okay.
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