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Men’s Basketball in a Downward Spiral

No. 11 Marquette has lost two straight games for the first time since March 2022, and its bench has been depleted with the injuries of sophomore guards Chase Ross and Sean Jones.

• The Golden Eagles (11-5, 2-3 Big East) lost 67-62 against Butler Wednesday, ending their 20-game home win-streak against Big East opponents.
• In the loss to the Bulldogs, Jones tore his ACL while driving to the basket in the second half, meaning his 2023-24 season is finished.
• Marquette’s offense has been uncharacteristically poor as of late, going 24-for-73 (32.9%) from the field and a season-worst 5-for-31 (16.1%) on 3-pointers against Butler. All-American Tyler Kolek shot a dismal 2-for-19 overall and 1-for-10 from beyond the arc in the Golden Eagles’ back-to-back losses.

“Nobody’s gonna feel sorry for us. The schedule doesn’t get easier. And it is a great opportunity,” head coach Shaka Smart said after the loss. “Adversity is an opportunity. It’s an opportunity. And that’s the first thing that Tyler (Kolek) and the rest of us need to do, is embrace that.

“And if we’re willing to do that, then we’ll get past it and we’ll get better from it. And we’ll be able to look back at a game like this, and it’ll help us be who we need to be. But first, we need to come to a point of acceptance with what really happened (Wednesday).”

Women’s Basketball Continues to Win, Liza Karlen Continues To Impress

No. 23 Marquette’s only two losses this season have come from road Big East games.

• The Golden Eagles (15-2, 4-2 Big East) were able to win on the road in the conference play after two losses, beating the Seton Hall Pirates 75-54 Wednesday night at Walsh Gymnasium.
• Karlen scored a new career-high 30 points in the win — 17 of which came in the third quarter — and scored her 1,000th career point.

“That third quarter was incredible, giving us timely baskets,” head coach Megan Duffy said after the game. “The offense was moving, we were sharing the ball, got her in some easy spots and she did what she did, knocked down shots and scored inside.”

• Saturday, the Golden Eagles stayed undefeated at home with a 78-47 win over DePaul behind Karlen’s game-high 19 points, the eighth time this year she has led Marquette in scoring.

Happening This Week:

• Men’s basketball vs Villanova Monday 1:30 p.m. CST at Fiserv Forum. Follow @JackAlbrightMU on Twitter/X for live updates and the game recap.
• Women’s basketball at Villanova Wednesday 6 p.m. CST at Finneran Pavilion. Follow @RaquelRuizMU on Twitter/X for live updates and the game recap.
• Men’s basketball at St. John’s Saturday 11 a.m. CST at Madison Square Garden. Follow @KaylynnWrightMU on Twitter/X for live updates and the game recap.
• Men’s lacrosse Blue & Gold scrimmage Saturday at 12 p.m. CST at Valley Fields. @RaquelRuizMU and @MatthewBaltzMU will have three takeaways from the scrimmage.

This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.