Last Saturday, not only did No. 10 Marquette men’s basketball (16-3, 7-1 Big East) lose at Fiserv Forum for the first time this season in a 59-57 loss to Xavier, they did so in historic fashion.
It suffered a season-high point deficit (19) towards the beginning of the second half, let up seven turnovers in the first 20 minutes when it averaged only 8.8 this season, and did not even get a shot off in the final seconds of the game for a chance to win.
The Golden Eagle’s home hardwood had been marked with a loss for only the seventh time in the Shaka Smart era.
Four days later though, Marquette notched a 17-point statement win at Seton Hall: the tenth ranked team in the Big East.
But now the blue and gold are back home — aiming to cleanse Fiserv of any losing memory Friday night and snatch their eighth Big East win of the year against Villanova (12-8, 5-4 Big East).
Wind in Marquette’s sails
The leading scorer for the Golden Eagles — senior guard Kam Jones — saw a turnaround in his previous game against the Pirates.
Since the start of Big East play, Jones was 9-for-46 from beyond the arc, but Tuesday, a bouncy 3-pointer ignited a night where he knocked down four of his six, tallying a 19-points.
Shooters touch 🤌 pic.twitter.com/wAyMoQ2KBZ
— Marquette Basketball (@MarquetteMBB) January 22, 2025
“This was one of Kam’s better games all around,” head coach Shaka Smart said. “I thought offensively, he did a nice job managing the game, got going and made some threes, which was nice because he’s been cold from out there the last few games. And then again, his defensive activity was impressive.”
Jones’ performance inspired the rest of the squad who went 10-for-21 in total from deep while stopping Seton Hall from doing the same. The Pirates went just 1-for-11.
The same night, junior guard Chase Ross seized four of the team’s 18 steals, bumping his season average to 2.3 per game. Ross is just behind senior guard Stevie Mitchell, who leads the team at 2.63—putting him tied for seventh in the nation. Overall, the Golden Eagles are fifth nationally in steals per game (10.2) and second in turnover margin (+6.9).
Even the bench players got in on the fun against the Pirates contributing 24 points, the most since Marquette’s Dec. 4 loss to Iowa State.
Despite averaging the least points per game out of the blue and gold’s starting five, Ben Gold has been heating up recently. In Gold’s past three games, he has tallied double-digit scoring in two, going 11-for-21 from the field and recorded 8-for-15 shooting from trey land. He collected a career-high-matching 13 rebounds in the loss to the Musketeers.
Villanova tries to break out of its slump with nation-leading power
As if not enough eggs were already in Marquette’s basket, Villanova has lost three (Georgetown, Xavier and St. John’s) of its last four games and is only 1-4 in true road games this season.
In their most recent matchup against Georgetown, the Wildcats let the Hoyas notch the final nine points of the night, including the game-winning basket with under two seconds left in regulation.
“It sounds simple, we just didn’t get stops when we needed to,” Wildcat head coach Kyle Neptune said after the Georgetown loss. “At the end of the day, that’s what it came down to.”
Though, it is far from all bad for the fifth-place team in the Big East.
The Wildcats possess the nation’s leading average scorer, forward Eric Dixon, who has been with the team since its 2019-20 campaign. Dixon is averaging 24.9 points per game while shooting 46.7 percent from three (third nationally), 48.8 percent from the field and averaging 5.1 rebounds per game this season.
Again reminding everyone that Eric Dixon played 4 years as a Center
This is not normal pic.twitter.com/8C1gLraAk6
— Ryan Cassidy (@ryancassidycbb) January 18, 2025
To heighten Dixon’s talent, Enoch Boakye and Wooga Poplar average 6.6 and 6.5 rebounds per game, respectively. Poplar contributes the second highest scoring average on the team with 13.9 points per game and Jhamir Brickus is the second best 3-point hitter at 49.4 percent (38-for-77).
Where to follow the game
The Golden Eagles dual Villanova under Fiserv Forum’s Friday night lights on Jan. 24 at 6 p.m. CST. The game will be Marquette’s annual Gold Out in support of the American Cancer Society and former university president Dr. Michael R. Lovell, who lost his battle with cancer last June.
Watch: Fs1 will host the national television broadcast, with Connor Onion (play-by-play) and Stephen Bardo (analyst) calling the game.
Live updates: Follow @MikeySeversonMU and @MUWireSports on Twitter/X.
Listen: 94.5 ESPN Milwaukee, Marquette Wire Radio (Gabriel Sisarica — play-by-play — and Kevin Lochte — analyst) and Sirius XM.
