No. 18 Marquette men’s basketball has lost three straight games for the first time since it dropped four in a row in head coach Shaka Smart’s first season in 2020.
The Golden Eagles (18-6, 9-4 Big East) look to break that streak as they begin their two-game homestand Tuesday night, taking on the 10th-place DePaul Blue Demons (11-13, 2-11 Big East) at Fiserv Forum.
Last time out, it took Marquette 45 minutes to finally silence DePaul, winning 85-83 in overtime Jan. 13 at Wintrust Arena where senior forward David Joplin scored a career-high 30 points. Since then, the Blue Demons have gone 2-4, while the Golden Eagles have gone 3-4.
MU struggles from beyond the arc, Kam Jones finding groove
It’s been clear all season that 3-point shooting has been a big part of Marquette’s offense. In fact, it ranks 17th in the country in 3-point shot attempts per game, taking 29 each contest.
However, during the Golden Eagles’ three-game losing streak, they have made just 26 of their 83 attempts (31.3%). They made only 11 of their 36 3-pointers in Saturday’s loss to the Creighton Bluejays, and are currently shooting 32.7% on the season.
That needs to change if Marquette wants to beat DePaul and get itself out of the funk it has been in. Frequent shooters like senior forwards David Joplin — who went 4-for-10 from three against Creighton — and Ben Gold — who has not hit a triple since Jan. 24 — need to find a way to step up.
However, the bright spot in Saturday’s loss was that senior guard Kam Jones looked like his All-American self again. The Memphis, Tennessee native kept his team in the game down the stretch, scoring seven points during the Golden Eagles’ 12-0 run — including a triple that gave MU the lead with 10:18 left to play.
BucketFamKam pic.twitter.com/G3OivBgdw0
— Marquette Basketball (@MarquetteMBB) February 8, 2025
Jones finished with 27 points on 11-for-19 shooting in 37 minutes of action, the most he has scored since posting 32 points in Marquette’s 88-74 victory over Wisconsin Dec. 7. He also added six assists and four rebounds while only turning over the ball once. If Jones can get going early, the Golden Eagles will have a good chance to sweep the season-series against DePaul.
DePaul cannot be overlooked
Amid a rebuild, the Blue Demons finally won their first regular-season Big East game in 730 days with a 73-68 win over Georgetown on Jan. 17. But since then, they’ve only garnered one more conference win and have fallen to 10th place in the league.
DePaul has the worst team defense in the Big East, allowing its opponents to shoot 44.9% from the field and score 72.9 points per game. It also averages 12.75 turnovers per contest, which is the third worst in the conference.
But considering how Marquette has been playing and how the last matchup between these two foes went, the Blue Demons cannot be overlooked.
In the Jan. 14 contest, junior guard CJ Gunn and graduate student guard Isaiah Rivera caused trouble for the Golden Eagles, scoring a combined 41 points. The latter went 6-for-8 from beyond the arc and at one point scored 12 points in 43 seconds.
Like Marquette, DePaul takes a lot of threes — it has made 233 so far this season, the fourth most all-time in a single-season. The Golden Eagles will need to rely on their defense that forces 15 turnovers a game to take care of business at home.
How to follow:
Watch: Tip-off at Fiserv Forum is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CST. The game will be streamed on Peacock with John Fanta (play-by-play) and former Marquette head coach Tom Crean (analyst) calling the action.
Follow: Follow @MatthewBaltzMU, @benhansonMU and @MUWireSports on Twitter/X.
Listen: 94.5 ESPN Milwaukee and Sirius XM.
This article was written by Kaylynn Wright. She can be reached at kaylynn.wright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @KaylynnWrightMU.
