No. 20 Marquette (22-8, 13-6 Big East) will have its work cut out for itself on senior day, with an 11 a.m. tip-off against No. 6 St. John’s (26-4, 17-2 Big East) on Saturday at Fiserv Forum.
The Red Storm have already secured the Big East regular season title and the tournament’s No. 1 seed, as the Golden Eagles will recognize six seniors, most notably Kam Jones, Stevie Mitchell and David Joplin: in addition to Cam Brown, Jake Ciardo and Jack Anderson.
Golden Eagles trending upward since post-New Year’s blues
When Marquette faced St. John’s at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 4, it was coming off a stretch of narrow wins sparked by second half comebacks as the calendar flipped to 2025. The Red Storm prevailed 70-64, whilst shooting 54.8 percent from the charity stripe, in a tight battle where neither team led by more than eight points.
Since that contest, the Golden Eagles have won three straight conference home games; against DePaul, Seton Hall and Providence, while notching a convincing road triumph, to kick off March, in the nation’s capital against a Georgetown squad that gave Marquette fits in their first meeting nearly seven weeks earlier in Milwaukee.
While a Feb. 21 road loss to a hot-shooting bubble team in Villanova looms large for Marquette, they played with much more competitive fire in the rematch with Dan Hurley’s UConn Huskies in Storrs, ultimately coming up a couple possessions short, but a significant improvement from the program’s first National Marquette Day loss in seven years, powered by a career night from Solo Ball, on Feb 1.
Kam Jones, while serving as Marquette’s premier scoring threat (close to 2000 career points), has taken on an increased role as a ball distributor this season. He averages 18.5 points to go along with six assists per game and has crossed double figures in every single game this season, while in dishing out a career-high 13 assists at Georgetown.
Joplin and Mitchell figure to have key roles in this one in rebounding and defensive presence, with Mitchell currently tied for 17th in the nation in steals, averaging 2.3 per contest.
Red Hot Red Storm
The second year of the Rick Pitino era in Queens couldn’t have gone any better for the Red Storm after barely missing last year’s Big Dance. As it waits for the Big East Tournament to commence in its home arena of Madison Square Garden, having already clinched the outright No. 1 seed and regular season title, St. John’s looks to cap off the regular season by potentially increasing its winning streak to six, with its last loss coming via a narrow two-point upset at Villanova on Feb. 12.
Three players average in double figures scoring for St. John’s, RJ Luis Jr, with just south of 18, Zuby Ejiofor with 14, and Seton Hall transfer Kadary Richmond not far behind with just under 13 points per game. Richmond also is tied for 35th in the NCAA in steals. Deivon Smith joins the three Red Storm players, averaging over five rebounds per contest.
Whenever Marquette and St. John’s have faced off, it’s been competitive as in the Shaka Smart era, all seven contests have been decided by 12 points or less, with the Red Storm’s Feb. 4 victory at MSG being the first time it has gotten the bigger end of the turkey’s wishbone.
How to follow the game
Tip-off is slated for 11 a.m. CST from Fiserv Forum.
Watch: The game will be nationally broadcast on FOX with Brandon Gaudin (play-by-play) and Robbie Hummel (analyst) on the call.
Listen: 94.5 ESPN Milwaukee.
Live updates: @MatthewBaltzMU and @MUWireSports.
This article was written by Mikey Severson. He can be reached at michael.severson@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MikeySeversonMU.
