Marquette Women’s Basketball Preview: at Green Bay

I’m still torn as to how to feel about last week’s Marquette loss to Northwestern.

On one hand, the game was hella ugly. On the other hand, Marquette nearly figured out a way to win in regulation. On the other hand, they did not actually accomplish that. On the other hand, MU nearly won without Selena Lott, who was injured. On the other hand, they fell apart in overtime and never really had a chance to win in the extra session.

So, yeah, it’s a lot. I feel like I should be encouraged in general by a very young and a very inexperienced Marquette squad giving a veteran Wildcats team coming off a WNIT runner-up appearance fits for 40 minutes. That’s either very good news for the development of the freshmen or a very positive indicator from what new head coach Megan Duffy is doing with her team thus far this season........or it’s just very lucky.

I’ll take the first two, that’s for sure. The third..... not so much.

Selena Lott was listed as day-to-day last week Thursday when she missed the NU game, so we’ll call her questionable for this, Marquette’s first road game of the year. If she misses it, it’s fine. I’d rather Lott sit out an extra game to make sure she’s ready long term and in Big East play as opposed to crossing our fingers that MU can figure out a way to gut out a win against their perennially successful opponent.

Game #5: at Green Bay Phoenix (2-1)

Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2019
Time: 7pm Central
Location: Kress Center, Green Bay, WI
Streaming: ESPN+, and you can sign up for a subscription by clicking this link.
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteWBB

Marquette is 9-35 all time against the Phoenix. This sounds very bad because it is actually bad. The Golden Eagles snapped a six game losing streak against Green Bay last year, and MU has not won in Green Bay since December 2007.

I have no idea what to make of Green Bay so far this season. They have a 111-105 double overtime win on the road, a 66-60 regulation loss, and a 72-64 win over a Major Seven team at home, too. That’s a wide range of results, both in terms of quality of opponent and pace of play. That’s wild, and I don’t know what to do with it.

What I do know what to do with is Green Bay’s projected finish in the Horizon League. For the 12th consecutive season, the Phoenix are favored to win their conference. I feel like that is pretty good. They did not win the regular season title last year, though, as injuries caused them to finish a lowly 15-3 overall. They also did not win the tournament title which is just the second time in the last nine seasons that they did not do that, but it was also their 10th straight HL title game appearance.

I’m saying they’re pretty freaking great.

With Green Bay only shooting 28% from behind the arc this season, it’s pretty lucky that they’re ranked #17 in the country by HerHoopStats.com in two point shooting percentage. Frankie Wurtz is the star of the show, with the 5’8” redshirt senior throwing in 19.0 points per game this year while shooting 56% from inside the arc. Four Phoenix players are averaging over 31 minutes per game this year, but remember that they did have a double-overtime game as one of their three so far. Still, only eight women have gotten onto the court for head coach Kevin Borseth this season, and it’s possible that the Golden Eagles could be able to use their deeper bench — or at least their unsettled rotation — to their advantage to swipe a win up north.

Anonymous Eagle has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Anonymous Eagle may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.