Georgia Tech Basketball: Marquette Preview

Georgia Tech (3-1, 0-0 ACC) vs. Marquette (3-2, 0-0 Big East)

KenPom Rankings: Georgia Tech - 109; Marquette - 64

Efficiency Rankings: Georgia Tech - Offense 186th, Defense 66th; Marquette - Offense 78th, Defense 57th.

KenPom Prediction: Georgia Tech 69 - 73 Marquette . Georgia Tech is given an 33% chance to win.

About Marquette

After Tech fell to Utah and Marquette lost to Mississippi State, the pair will face off in the third place game of the Fort Myers Tip-Off.

Marquette sits at 3-2 on the season with wins over Radford, Central Michigan, and LIU and losses to Purdue (on the road) and Mississippi State (neutral site). Essentially, they have won the games they were supposed to win and lost the ones they were expected to lose. However, they kept it close in both their losses, losing to Purdue by 5 and Mississippi State by 3.

Marquette is not afraid to shoot the three, ranking near the top nationally in 3 point attempts, but they have struggled to see them fall, ranking in the bottom half nationally in 3 point field goal percentage.

They are also a very good passing team, ranking near the top of the national in assist percentage (percentage of field goals that are assisted on).

Players to Watch

Tyler Kolek: Outstanding floor general averaging over 8 assists per game. Ranked 11th nationally in assist rate. Also leads the team in rebounding and scores just under 9 points per game.

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Kam Jones: Enters his sophomore season after making the 2021-2022 Big East All-Freshman team. 6-4 wing who averages 11.8 points per game, including a 19 point outing against Purdue.

Oso Ighodaro: Entering his third season with Marquette, Ighodaro has seen his minutes increase significantly each season. Was MVP in the opener against Radford, scoring 19 points on 9-12 shooting.

Olivier-Maxence Prosper: 6-8 stretch big man who leads the team in scoring, mostly due to a 31 point performance (11-12 field goals, 3-3 threes) against LIU.

Prediction

The outcome of this one comes down to which Georgia Tech team decides to show up. Is it the team that was down 23-4 halfway through the opening half last night? Or is it the team that outscored Utah 60-45 from that point forward? This game will be another close one, but I think Tech will avoid a slow start like last night and come out on top with a narrow victory.

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports