We continue to progress towards Thursday's Sweet 16 games. Yesterday we compared how YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles and the Florida Gators match up when Marquette is on offense. Today we'll focus on how things might go when Florida has the ball.
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First the bad news: Florida's offense is fantastic. They score in bunches (7th best eFG% in the country), and they almost never turn it over (17th in the country in Turnover %). Even when they're not great at something (122nd at Offensive Rebound %), that's Marquette's one weakness on defense (298th in the country).
So that brings us to the good news: Marquette's defense is great. 31st best at limiting eFG% and 29th best at the percent of possessions that end in a steal. Even better news: Marquette's already great at not fouling shooters (52nd in FT Rate) and while Florida averages more free throws per field goal than Marquette allows, they're actually terrible relative to the rest of the country (251st).
As far as efficiency goes, it looks like this could be where the game is won. Florida is the 5th most efficient offense in the country at 1.16 points per possession. But Marquette is the 26th most efficient defense, allowing just 0.93 points per possession. One of these two will have to give.