Marquette men’s basketball is up to No. 16 in the latest AP Poll after beating DePaul 68-58 on Tuesday. The Golden Eagles received a full week off after the win, something that is rare to see this time of year.
Nonetheless, the six days off that MU has are as important as ever, as the Golden Eagles battle the bumps of bruises of Big East play while also having lost three of their last four contests.
Along with the win over the Blue Demons, there were a couple other announcements surrounding Marquette this week. So, without further ado, here are some thoughts from the week:
Despite poor shooting numbers, the Golden Eagles continue to turn misses into extra opportunities
After grabbing 18 rebounds but only scoring 11 second-chance points, Marquette head coach Shaka Smart kept things blunt when asked about what he liked about the way his team attacked the glass in MU’s loss at Creighton last Saturday.
“We had to have 18 offensive rebounds because we missed so many shots,” he said. “I’m grateful for the way our guys went to the glass, it was a point of emphasis.
“… I thought [Joplin] was better on the glass today, Royce was way better on the glass, but we got to score more after we get the rebound. That was the game within the game today, if you get 18 offensive rebounds, if you could score 25 points off that it might be a different game. But Creighton had a lot to do with that, they deserve all the credit today.”
After shooting 11-for-36 (30.6 percent) from deep in Omaha, Marquette shot a season-worst 16 percent (4-for-25) against DePaul at Fiserv Forum on Tuesday.
Despite that, the Golden Eagles outrebounded DePaul 44-36 and had a 15-2 edge in second-chance points, finishing with a 10-point victory.
“They’re a team that, I think when they’re making three’s they are one of the very best teams in the country because of their defense and their versatility,” DePaul head coach Chris Holtmann said.
Marquette is -1.8 in rebound margin this season, which is the best that number has been since Smart took over in 2021-22.
MU left out of the selection committee’s early top 16
Each year for the past eight seasons, the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee has unveiled its top 16 teams on the Bracket Preview Show, which airs about a month before Selection Sunday.
The early top 16 was announced once again Saturday, and even though Marquette had been looked at as a potential two or three seed for much of the season prior to its recent three-game losing streak, the Golden Eagles were nowhere to be found on the list.
MU currently sits at No. 24 in the NET rankings, with a quadrant one record of 5-4 and a quadrant two record 0f 6-2. Despite not being worthy of a top four seed in the eyes of the committee right now, a lot can change in a few weeks. The Golden Eagles still have three Quadrant one games remaining along with one Quadrant two game, and that’s not counting the opportunities that they will have in the Big East Tournament either.
The 68-team field is set to be revealed on Selection Sunday, March 16.
Reports of another Big Ten-heavy non-conference are already flying around
Yes, I know that the regular season hasn’t even concluded this year, but it’s never too early to start looking at next year’s non-conference opponents.
According to a report from CBS’s Jon Rothstein, Marquette and Indiana have agreed to meet in a neutral site game next season at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. There is no timetable for an official announcement, and the official date is still TBD.
Their meeting with the Hoosiers would be the Golden Eagles’ third Big Ten opponent of their 2025-26 non-conference slate. Marquette will welcome Maryland to Fiserv Forum and travel to Mackey Arena to face Purdue in the fall after starting a home-and-home series with both schools this season.
What’s on tap?
Traveling back to the present, the Golden Eagles have a pair of games coming up in the next four days.
First, Marquette welcomes Seton Hall (7-18, 2-12 Big East) to Milwaukee on Tuesday night. The Pirates are fresh off one of the biggest upsets of the season in college basketball after taking down UConn 69-68 at Prudential Center on Saturday. The Golden Eagles took care of Seton Hall in New Jersey on Jan. 21, 76-59.
After that, MU will travel to Philadelphia on just two days of rest to take on Villanova (15-11, 8-7 Big East) Friday. The Golden Eagles got the best of the Wildcats on Jan. 24, 87-74. Marquette has not lost to Villanova during Smart’s tenure as head coach.
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at matthew.baltz@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.
