Georgia faces challenge with Marquette’s fast-paced offense
Georgia has had its share of non-conference tests this season, playing close contests against NCAA Tournament-caliber teams in Clemson and Kansas.
On Sunday, another opportunity will arise, but this time the Bulldogs will be able to play against a top-tier opponent in front of their home crowd as Marquette makes the trip south to play at Stegeman Coliseum. The Golden Eagles are known for their fast-paced offense, averaging 86.7 points per game.
With some defensive areas being inconsistent at times, Georgia players know what task lies ahead with Marquette’s offensive weapons.
“We know they can score the basketball,” Georgia senior guard J.J. Frazier said. “We’ll have to play defense at a high level for us to stop them, but they’re a good, veteran team, and we have to play well.”
Marquette’s roster is deep in production, comprised of seven players averaging seven points or more — including two starting freshmen in Markus Howard and Sam Hauser. The Golden Eagles have been led by senior guard Jajuan Johnson and senior forward Luke Fischer, who have averaged over 14 points per game.
Georgia has a similar frontcourt-backcourt combination with Frazier and junior forward Yante Maten. While those two have surpassed the scoring totals of Marquette’s leaders so far, the Golden Eagles have little issue finding production from their supporting cast.
With the Bulldogs only having one role player averaging more than seven points per game, Georgia’s head coach Mark Fox realizes the need for improvement offensively from his younger group. Meanwhile, he showed respect for Marquette’s group and realizes his opponent’s offensive strengths.
“They have a lot of balance offensively,” Fox said. “They’re good in transition, they’re a good 3-point shooting team, they have good low block scoring with slashers. They’re a complete and efficient offensive team. It’s because they play well together, and we’ll have to be very good to try and slow them down some.”
The last time Georgia hosted a Big East team in 2014, things went well as the Bulldogs beat Seton Hall in 65-47. Georgia will hope that similar success occurs yet again against a Marquette team that possesses similar caliber.
In today’s era of college basketball, the non-conference schedules typically are built around either neutral-site preseason tournaments or home games against mid-major teams. Georgia, while accepting invitations to take part in those tournaments, tries to take a different approach in order to boost its strength of schedule in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament committee.
The Bulldogs prefer to implement a home-on-home style of scheduling, in which a two-year series is set up with a team every other year. Georgia has done so with series against Colorado, Oakland and Kansas State recently. Despite these series becoming so difficult to schedule, Fox and the program makes it a priority.
“I think college basketball needs more home-on-home games in the non-conference,” Fox said. “So many of the teams want to play neutral-site games, and that’s not the best thing for the game in my opinion. Scheduling these is important, and to get a Big East team of Marquette’s quality is important to us. Scheduling has become one of the most difficult things to do, so hopefully this is a good series for the two schools.”
Regardless of who Georgia is slated to face, it seems as if each player on the roster has the same mindset for each game on the roster.
“We take every game as a resume game,” Georgia freshman guard Jordan Harris. “This would be a good game to win, because they’re good. I’m excited for this game as I am for every game.”
This story was originally published December 3, 2016 at 1:23 PM with the headline "Georgia faces challenge with Marquette’s fast-paced offense."