Almost a year ago, a sea of more than 17,000 blue and gold-dressed faithful dawned the bowl of Fiserv Forum — all in attendance for a celebration created to energize Golden Eagle students and alumni alike: National Marquette Day.
The last time the Golden Eagles lost on this festive day was in 2018.
On Saturday, the No. 25 UConn Huskies (15-6, 7-3 Big East) will have to keep their composure through the National Marquette Day roar of blue and gold bleeders. Although they’re the two-time defending national champions, the Huskies have struggled a bit thus far in conference play and currently sit in fourth place in the Big East.
Even so, this is the first time No. 9 Marquette men’s basketball (18-3, 9-1 Big East) will have the pleasure of playing them this season.
“UConn speaks for themselves in terms of the program that they’ve built and the team that they have,” head coach Shaka Smart said Thursday at a media availability. “It’s going to be a heck of an environment. Two Big East teams going after it at a high level. For us, we’re excited about a chance to work at being our best over a 40-minute game.”
Marquette’s second-half team energy
The blue and gold currently share the top position in the Big East with St. John’s at 9-1 in conference play.
The Golden Eagles’ 7-2 record when trailing at half this season certainly helps.
In Marquette’s games against Butler (Jan. 28) and Georgetown (Jan. 7), the Golden Eagles were behind seven and 11 points in those contests respectively at halftime.
During the duel against No. 25 UConn, MU will need top-tier effort for all 40 minutes.
The Golden Eagles’ previous game against Butler saw Stevie Mitchell stepping up to the plate with 22 points, a career-high, 10 of which came in a five-minute stretch in the second half during which Kam Jones was benched with foul trouble. Mitchell added on five rebounds as well, just two behind the game’s leading board-grabber, Ben Gold.
STEVIE MITCHELL pic.twitter.com/7c7Nvus9PG
— Marquette Basketball (@MarquetteMBB) January 29, 2025
In his last two games, Mitchell has a combined 43 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals on 66 percent shooting.
“It’s awesome seeing him score the way he can, he’s capable,” Smart said about Mitchell. “It’s interesting because some of these teams have almost disrespected him by staying off him or putting a big guy on him. And he’s showing he’s a really, really good scorer.”
Also, against the Bulldogs, Jones dropped 17 points with 7-for-13 shooting from the field and 2-for-5 from deep. Nevertheless, Jones is still trying to break out of a slump.
In his first 13 games of the season, he averaged 20.3 points per game, but in his last eight he’s only putting up 16.5 per night. The last time he scored 20 points, or more, was on Jan. 3 against Creighton (22).
McNeeley’s injury status could decide the game
Last season, UConn only dropped two games throughout their Big East campaign against Creighton and Seton Hall. Only 10 games into conference play this season, and its lost three.
The big asterisk on this stat is the absence of forward Liam McNeeley on the Huskies’ roster. McNeeley suffered an ankle injury in the squad’s second half against DePaul on Jan. 1. UConn has gone 4-3 without him.
Every conference loss has come without the star first-year who was averaging 13.9 points and 5.8 boards per game while shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 37.9 percent from three before the injury.
“If we could ever get Liam back on the court here,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said. “When Liam was on the court we were playing to a top 12 level in the country. His absence has caused a lot of problems that this team can’t overcome at this point. We just have to find a way to battle until we get whole again.”
Despite hopefulness from Hurley, McNeeley didn’t play in their previous matchup.
Dan Hurley told reporters that he’s “not sure” of Liam McNeeley’s availability for Wednesday’s game against DePaul and will see how he responds to ramping things up in practice.
Has not played since 1/1 due to an ankle injury.
Averages 13.6 PPG.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) January 28, 2025
It’s still unknown if McNeeley will suit up against Marquette Saturday, but even if he does, there’s no guarantee he’ll be 100%.
Huskies: who’s hot, who’s not
Leading the team in scoring is Alex Karaban, averaging 15 points per game. Karaban has only scored in single digits five times this season—but three of those have come in the past four games. In that same time, he’s shot 27.5 percent from the field and 12.5 percent from beyond the arc.
Just behind Karaban is Solo Ball, posting 14.6 points per game. In his past three matchups, the sophomore guard has averaged nearly 20 points and 7.3 glass grabs per game: more than anyone else on the team.
Ball was the catalyst for the Huskies to pull away in their game against DePaul. One in which they faced a 14-point deficit.
Solo does it again! pic.twitter.com/qJpjIcqKsh
— UConn Men’s Basketball (@UConnMBB) January 30, 2025
Hot from off the bench for the Huskies lately has been Tarris Reed Jr., who in the Huskies’ previous game against DePaul tied the lead for the team in points (16) and led in rebounds (6). In his past three games, he’s scored in double-digits twice.
A real eagle inside Fiserv Forum for National Marquette Day?
The idea originated when an anonymous user posted on the popular student discussion thread app, Yik Yak, “Upvote for a real eagle at home games.” The official Marquette University page then posted, “If this gets at least 300 upvotes, we’ll bring this up to President Ah Yun.”
Its official Instagram page then shared a screenshot of the Yik Yak post which accumulated 575 upvotes. The screenshot was followed by pictures of a notebook sketch of an eagle being shown to Marquette President Dr. Ah Yun and him making a call at his desk.
Make sure to look towards the skies inside Fiserv Forum…
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How to follow along with the festivity
The Golden Eagles will show UConn what National Marquette Day sounds like at Fiserv Forum on Saturday at 7 p.m. CST.
Watch: FOX features the national television broadcast, with Gus Johnson (play-by-play), Jim Jackson (analyst) and Kristina Pink (reporter) calling what’s what.
Live updates: Follow @MatthewBaltzMU, KaylynnWrightMU and @MUWireSports on Twitter/X.
Listen: 94.5 ESPN Milwaukee, Marquette Wire Radio (Mikey Severson — play-by-play — and Grayson Buesing — analyst) and Sirius XM.
This preview was written by Ben Hanson. He can be reached at benjamin.hanson@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @benhansonMU.
