Improved Guard Play Will Be Key To Reversing Trends

Tonight, Marquette begins a difficult two-game stretch of road games. Unfortunately, despite the recent conference opening win over Villanova, the Warriors have been slumping. This chart shows the cumulative total of how many points Marquette has been winning (or losing) by since the second Norfolk State game.However, that chart just shows Marquette plateauing, mostly due to two rough losses. There is a definite slump on the current efficiency trends. Below is a five-game moving average of Marquette's efficiency (offensive and defensive) since the NFSU #2.Both our offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency are getting worse as the season goes along. Part of this can be chalked up to poor recent outings. However, consider that Marquette hasn't been strong offensively almost the entire month of December (Northern Colorado is the exception). That the defensive efficiency is getting worse is not really a surprise (unfortunately), but the offensive trend is a real conce...