The Marquette Golden Eagles (3-2) are playing host to the Dayton Flyers (3-1) on Wednesday night. Both sides are looking to salvage their nonconference resumes in Milwaukee, with the game tipping off at 7:30 p.m. ET on TruTV.
The Golden Eagles are 5.5-point favorites in the matchup with -230 moneyline odds, and the total has been set at 152.5 points. Here is a preview of the midweek showdown featuring odds and lines from DraftKings Sportsbook.
Marquette vs. Dayton Preview
Marquette Preview
The Golden Eagles had a soft runway to start the season, beating Albany 80-53 in their opener. Shaka Smart’s squad looked better offensively but far worse defensively in game two, when it notched a 100-82 victory over Southern. Those defensive issues reared their ugly head when Marquette took on Indiana in Chicago a few days later, as the Hoosiers stomped the Golden Eagles 100-77. After getting right with an 89-49 win over Little Rock, Marquette lost to Maryland 89-82 last Saturday.
Amid the up-and-down start, senior guard Chase Ross has been a constant force. He is averaging 20.8 points, 4.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.8 turnovers per game, shooting 50.8% from the field, 34.6% from deep and 78.6% from the line. Ross is averaging 5.2 attempts per game from beyond the arc, plus 8.4 free-throw attempts per game. He is a true three-level threat, and he proved it by dropping 31 against Maryland last weekend. The rest of Marquette’s scoring attack is pretty balanced, with Ben Gold, Zaide Lowery, Nigel James Jr. and Royce Parham all averaging between 8.2 and 10.8 points per game. The 6-foot-11 Gold and 6-foot-8 Parham are the team’s leading rebounders, averaging 8.4 and 5.2 a night, respectively. The 6-foot-9 redshirt sophomore, Caedin Hamilton, has brought down five boards in each of his last three games, too.
Marquette is No. 59 in the latest KenPom rankings, good for fifth in the Big East. The Golden Eagles are an incredibly balanced team, boasting the No. 65 offense and No. 64 defense in terms of adjusted efficiency.
Dayton Preview
Following an 88-48 win over Canisius in the season-opener, Dayton cut things a little close with its ensuing 77-71 victory against UMBC. The Flyers followed up that averted upset by losing 74-62 to in-state foe Cincinnati. And while Dayton got back in the win column a few days later against Bethune-Cookman, it took 91 points to stave off an 82-point surge from the Wildcats of the SWAC.
The Flyers’ two most effective players could not be more dissimilar on the surface. Senior guard Javon Bennett is 5-foot-11 and 155 pounds, which stands in sharp contrast to 7-foot-1 French sophomore Amael L’Etang. And yet, both Bennett and L’Etang have established themselves as dynamic, high-volume scorers in the early goings this season. Bennett is averaging 18.3 points and 3.8 assists per game while shooting 59.3% on 6.8 two-point attempts per game, 30.4% on 5.8 three-point attempts per game and 90.9% on 5.5 free-throw attempts per game. As for L’Etang, he is averaging 15.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game while shooting 65.2% on 5.8 two-point attempts per game, 35.7% on 3.5 three-point attempts per game and 71.4 % on 5.3 free-throw attempts per game.
De’Shayne Montgomery, a transfer from Mount St. Mary’s and Georgia, is averaging 31.0 minutes per game while serving as the starting two-guard for the Flyers, averaging 14.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game. Keonte Jones, a 6-foot-6 23-year-old who transferred in from Cal State Northridge, is contributing 9.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.0 block per game.
In the updated KenPom rankings, Dayton comes in at No. 74 overall. It is a fitting ranking, considering the Flyers rank No. 74 in adjusted offense and No. 74 adjusted defense.
Marquette vs. Dayton pick, best bet
If you are going to make a moneyline pick, there is logic behind going for the more desperate, more tested team in Marquette. The Golden Eagles are at home, too, where they haven’t lost back-to-back games since December 2021. Against the spread, though, it’s hard to feel incredibly confident about the Golden Eagles winning by six-plus when they’ve lost by 23 and seven points in their only two games against high-major opponents.
The only team that has held Marquette to fewer than 80 points is Indiana, which boasts a top-30 defense in the country. The Golden Eagles even scored 82 points against a top-20 defense in Maryland. The Flyers are a better defensive team than UMBC and Canisius, but don’t expect them to perform better than Indiana or Maryland. They just allowed 82 points to Bethune-Cookman at home, after all.
On the other end of the court, Dayton has scored at least 77 points in three of its four games. While the Flyers put up just 62 points in their only other true road game this season, that came against a Cincinnati team that owns the No. 2 defense in the country. Marquette is fresh off allowing 89 points to Maryland, which has a lower-rated offense than Dayton.
This should be a tight, high-scoring showdown, despite both sides’ balanced profiles.
