Missouri 20 minutes from action
The first game of the day here in Boise, Idaho has concluded. Xavier pulled away late from the Wisconsin Badgers, winning 60-49. Missouri and Marquette have begun their warmups and will be underway about 20 minutes.
As Dave Reiter said earlier, if the Tigers can do what they want to do, Missouri should be able to dictate the pace of the game and come out on top. As it has been all year with Missouri, it's all about the start. The Tigers just need to keep things close early and put themselves in position to make their textbook second half run.
Of course, an early big lead would work well for the Tigers, but that hasn't been the trend lately. Missouri should look to keep things close by halftime and use its depth and stamina to pull away in the second half.
In terms of matchups, Missouri will look to exploit Marquette's bigs. Senior forwards Leo Lyons and DeMarre Carroll both have a height advantage over the Golden Eagle big men, but most importantly, a quickness advantage.
Center Dwight Burke is a good player down low for Marquette, but at a very thick 250, he'll have a tough time sticking with Lyons who is extremely athletic.
This has the makings to be a good one from Boise, and it's still yet to be seen what sort of impact senior guard Dominic James will make in his stunning return from a broken foot.