Marquette Basketball Preview Primer: vs DePaul

Marquette Golden Eagles (12-6, 2-4) vs DePaul Blue Demons (6-12, 0-6)

Marquette Stat Leaders

Points: Henry Ellenson, 15.9 ppg
Rebounds: Henry Ellenson, 9.7 rpg
Assists: Traci Carter, 5.0 apg

DePaul Stat Leaders:

Points: Myke Henry, 14.2 ppg
Rebounds: Tommy Hamilton, 6.8 rpg
Assists: Billy Garrett, 3.9 apg

Current KenPom Rankings

Marquette: #106
DePaul: #163
KenPom Predictions: Marquette has a 77% chance of victory, with a predicted score of 77-69

Tempo Free Fun: As you might expect in a game where Marquette is involved, turnovers may be the name of the game against the Blue Demons.  It might not be what you think, though.  At this point in league play, DePaul is turning it over more than any other team in the Big East, and yes, that includes your Golden Eagles, who are seventh in the Big East.  That's bad news for the Blue Demons, as forcing turnovers is one of Marquette's true strengths this season.  If you take the full season view of things, DePaul is one of the 40 worst teams in the country at keeping track of the ball.

As far as when Marquette has the ball, the Golden Eagles need to have a good performance in the turnover department in this game.  While MU is 7th in the Big East in turnover rate and rather bad for the season, DePaul's no good at forcing turnovers.  In fact, they're dead last in the Big East in defensive turnover rate and way down at #261 in the country.  Tack on DePaul's ridiculously high defensive free throw rate (#312 in the country), and if Marquette doesn't spend a bunch of time in this game holding onto the ball long enough to shoot a bunch of free throws, then something is going horrifyingly wrong.

DePaul Last 10 Games: 1-9, with losses in their last six games

Marquette Last 10 Games: 6-4, with losses in their last two games

All Time Series: Marquette leads, 71-45.  71 wins is a Marquette record for most wins against any single opponent.  With 116 previous meetings, DePaul is Marquette's third most frequent opponent, trailing Notre Dame (118 games) and Wisconsin (122 games).

Current Streak: The two teams split last year's meetings, with Marquette taking the win in the most recent contest.

Henry Ellenson Watch: If Henry Ellenson scores 20 points against DePaul, he will tie Roney Eford for the 10th most points by a MU freshman.  Ellenson continues to have the second most rebounds by a Marquette freshman with 174, trailing Bo Ellis' freshman record of 264.  He is five made field goals away from tying Brian Wardle for the 10th most FGM by a MU freshman.  Ellenson is tied with Todd Mayo for the sixth most made free throws by a freshman, and his 64 makes are six short of Doc Rivers in fifth place.  His 87 free throw attempts are the 8th most by a Golden Eagle freshman, just one behind Russ Wittberger for seventh place.  Ellenson still sits one behind Scott Merritt's 25 blocks for the fourth most by a Marquette freshman.

Traci Carter Watch: With 90 assists on the season, the Philly native has the 5th most assists by a Marquette freshman.  He's just three assists behind Cordell Henry for 4th place.

Follow Along On Twitter

@MarquetteMBB - The official Marquette account
@DePaulHoops - The official DePaul account
@AnonymousEagle - Hey, that's us!
@WeAreDePaul - Scout.com's DePaul site
@becb_sbn - SB Nation's Big East site
@Matt_Velazquez - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel beat reporter