Marquette vs. Butler 3-point preview

Butler and Marquette will hit the hardwood for the second time this season Wednesday night in Indianapolis. Last time these two teams faced off, Andrew Chrabascz scored 30 points in a 72-68 overtime win. Not a lot has changed since then. MU’s season is all but over and Butler is still looking to improve seeding come NCAA Tournament time. However, the Bulldogs were victims of a drubbing at the hands of Xavier last Saturday. They will be looking to avoid back-to-back losses for the fist time since mid-December.

Benches?

We’re still looking for them. Both of these team’s bench options are extremely limited. The last time these teams faced, bench players scored a combined six points. I repeat, combined. This is a game for the starters, more importantly the stars. As always, whenever you have a light bench foul trouble can be an issue, especially with the big guys like Chrabascz and Kameron Woods for Butler, and Luke Fischer for Marquette.

Get the rock to Fischer

Speaking of Fischer, he has to be involved offensively for the Golden Eagles. It’s noticeable when he’s off the floor this offense isn’t the same. When he’s scoring down low, it opens everything up on the perimeter for a team that needs a lot of help out there. MU is shooting only 34 percent from deep on the season, yet it really enjoys shooting from out there. So as open as Fischer can make Matt Carlino and JuJuan Johnson among others, the better off Marquette will be.

The two-headed monster

If you’re Butler, get them going. If you’re the opposing team, do your best to slow them down. On any given night, either Kellen Dunham or Roosevelt Jones is due to go off. Like I said earlier, there are no good bench options, so you’re going to get about 30-35 minutes a night from these two. They account for about 29 points per game and one beats you from the outside (Dunham) and the other from inside (Jones).  Slow them down and hope Barlow doesn’t go off from three and you give yourself a chance.