Marquette-UConn Game Canceled

Well, it was bound to happen to a Marquette team, and so now it has. The women’s basketball road game against Connecticut on Wednesday, December 29, 2021, has been canceled. The reason? Marquette has a big enough COVID problem that they do not have enough available players to participate in the game.

In theory, the game is merely postponed, as it is possible it could be rescheduled down the line. I wouldn’t hold your breath, though, as there isn’t really that much open space in the Marquette schedule as long as it goes off without any further problems.

If there’s good news to be found in Megan Duffy’s team testing positive enough to not be able to play, it’s that Marquette was going to have eight days off after the UConn game. The next scheduled game for the Golden Eagles isn’t until January 7th on the road against Creighton. It seems reasonable to think that MU will be able to get back up and running with enough time to be able to travel to Omaha on the 6th for that game and thus only miss the one contest.

From a basketball analysis point of view, it’s a drag to miss an opportunity to play UConn. First, there’s the obvious NET rankings benefit that come from playing the Huskies. Then, there’s the fact that UConn has been scuffling without star guard Paige Bueckers. I’m not saying Marquette would have been favored in the game, far from it, but this could have been a quality chance to hand the Huskies their first in-conference loss since before they went on their sabbatical in the AAC. Now, if the game in Storrs goes back on the board, it will be after UConn gets a chance to get a little more organized without Bueckers in the lineup, and they’ll be somewhere between a little and a lot harder to beat.

Marquette wraps up the 2021 side of this season with a record of 9-3 overall and 2-1 in Big East play.