Butler was the 7th Top 200 team to visit the Bradley Center this season. The first times Marquette averaged doing 13 points WORSE than their projection at www.kenpom.com.
Toss-ups vs. Iowa and Seton Hall? 20-point losses. Eight-point favorites over Belmont and DePaul? Losses. Sixteen point favorite over IUPUI? It took overtime. Only Xavier met up to expectations - losing by exactly the eight point projection.
But Henry Ellenson looked like a guy expecting to be in the NBA next year rather than a freshman, scoring 32 points as Marquette beat favored Butler 75-69.
The reason this is so encouraging is that with the freshman experiencing what it is like to have a crowd behind you - rather than disappointed in you - this could help MU take care of business at home.
And if they do that they already played like a tournament team on the road, averaging 5.5 points a game better than projected - but more importantly winning four games in which they were underdogs.
A HUGE win. Here are all the results in home and then away/neutral games.
| Home Games vs. Top 200 | Result | Projection | Better |
|---|---|---|---|
| DePaul | -1 | 8 | -9 |
| Xavier | -8 | -8 | 0 |
| Seton Hall | -20 | 1 | -21 |
| Iowa | -28 | -1 | -27 |
| IUPUI | 4 | 16 | -12 |
| Belmont | -3 | 8 | -11 |
| Average Home Performance | -9.3 | 4.0 | -13.3 |
| Away Games vs. Top 200 | |||
| Villanova | -15 | -18 | 3 |
| Providence | 1 | -11 | 12 |
| Georgetown | -10 | -7 | -3 |
| Wisconsin | 2 | -8 | 10 |
| Arizona State | 5 | -2 | 7 |
| LSU | 1 | -3 | 4 |
| Average Away Performance | -2.7 | -8.2 | 5.5 |
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