After failing to reach the finals at the Big East Tournament for the first time since 2022 last weekend, Marquette men’s basketball now turns its attention to the NCAA Tournament, where it will face New Mexico on Friday.
The Golden Eagles (23-9) were announced as the No. 7 seed in the South Region on Sunday. They will take on the 10th seeded Lobos (26-7). The game is set to start at 6:25 p.m. CT on TBS.
March Madness is just around the corner, so here are some notes heading into the NCAA Tournament:
MU lands another good site draw
The Golden Eagles are 4-for-4 in tournament appearances under head coach Shaka Smart. In the first year of Smart’s tenure, MU was the ninth seed in the East Region, having to face a North Carolina team that went on to make the National Championship that year. Their first round game was played in Fort Worth, Texas that year, a near 15 and a half hour drive from Milwaukee.
In year two and three, with future-NBA players Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro running the show, the Golden Eagles earned back-to-back No. 2 seeds en route to playing in Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis in consecutive years.
Despite struggling in the back half of Big East play this season and earning a seven seed, MU will play its first round game in Cleveland at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, along with its second round game if it advances past the Round of 64. Out of the seven geographical sites that the Golden Eagles could’ve ended up at for the first and second rounds, Cleveland was the closest — a dream scenario for both the team and fans alike.
“I always, at the very beginning of the season, make a vision board with all the NCAA Tournament sites,” Smart said. “And this year, there was only seven first and second round sites because obviously, they aren’t going to put us at Fiserv. Noticed right away that Cleveland was the closest. I used to live in Akron, my wife’s from Akron, so I know Northeast Ohio pretty well.
“…At the beginning of the year, that’s where you hope to go for your fans that are going to make that trip, it’s a lot easier than Seattle or Denver.”
As Marquette prepares for its third consecutive tournament within reasonable driving distance for its fans, Smart said:
“The best thing about being at the closest site is that it gives fans the best chance to come,” Smart said. “It’s obviously not right about the corner, but it’s close enough for a lot of our fans to drive to. It makes a huge difference. Every time that we hear, ‘We are Marquette’ in the building, that’s a powerful domino for our team.”
Kam Jones earns All-America honors
At the start of Jones’ career in Milwaukee, Smart told reporters that the 6-foot-5 guard had the ability to leading the Big East in scoring one day.
And while he never actually led the conference in scoring, Jones became one of the best players in the country during his four seasons at Marquette, showcasing his scoring and playmaking ability to the fullest his senior year en route to averaging career-highs in both points (19.3) and assists (5.9) per game. Those averages both rank inside the top 50 nationally in their respective categories.
The Memphis, Tennessee native was named a Second Team Associated Press All-American on Tuesday, becoming the third MU guard in six seasons to receive All-America honors. Markus Howard made the second team in 2018-19 and the first team in 2019-20 while Jones’ former backcourt partner, Tyler Kolek, earned second team honors in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
“I’m proud of him,” Smart said. “It’s humbling because you think about Tyler last two years, and then Kam this year — that’s three years in a row that we’ve had an All-American guard. That’s hard to do, and I’ve coached for 16 years.
“I don’t think I coached one before that, so you can’t necessarily plan it out or know that it’s coming. You just have to work your tail off to identify and bring in the best guys.”
The senior guard has scored in double figures in all 33 games this season, and also holds the longest active streak in Division I basketball of consecutive games with 10 or more points, tallying 49 in a row.
Jones was in somewhat of a lull in the heart of conference play, averaging 17 points per game on 44 percent shooting during a 13-game stretch that spanned from Jan. 3 to Feb. 21. However, in the six games since, he has been nearly unstoppable, scoring 22.5 points per game on 47.4 percent shooting from the floor. This includes four 20+ point performances in MU’s last four games.
How far can Marquette make it in the Big Dance?
Each year that the Golden Eagles have made the tournament under Smart, they’ve gone a round further each year. So if you do the math on that, Marquette would be expected to go to the Elite Eight this year. But of course, things aren’t nearly that simple.
First, MU will have to get by a lightning fast New Mexico team. Coached by Richard Pitino — son of St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino — the Lobos love to get out in transition and run, and muck the game up in the halfcourt when things slow down.
Stopping New Mexico in transition will be a huge key to Marquette advancing to the second round for the third straight year, but whether or not the Golden Eagles are up to stopping junior guard Donovan Dent looks like it will be the determining factor in the outcome of Friday’s matchup.
Dent was the Mountain West Player of the Year this past season, averaging a MW-leading 20.9 points and six assists per game, while connecting on 48.9 percent of attempts from the field.
If the Golden Eagles are able to make it past the Lobos, No. 2 Michigan State would likely be waiting for them on Sunday in a rematch of the Round of 32 game that saw then-No. 2 Marquette go home at the hands of the seventh-seeded Spartans in 2023, 69-60. Barring an upset from No. 15 Bryant, if the Golden Eagles were to meet up with MSU in the second round for the second time in three years, there’s no doubt MU would have revenge on its mind for that one.
If Marquette were to complete the upset in the Round of 32, No. 3 Iowa State, No. 6 Ole Miss or No. 11 North Carolina would be the probable opponents for a Sweet 16 matchup in Atlanta. The only team of the three that the Golden Eagles have seen this season was ISU, who they lost to 81-70 in Ames, Iowa back in December.
A potential Elite Eight matchup for a chance to go to the Final Four for the first time since 2003 could realistically be with anyone from No. 4 Texas A&M to No. 9 Creighton, but the most likely would be No. 1 Auburn. The Tigers have the third-best odds of anyone in the tournament field to make the Final Four, as they are -105 to win the South Region, according to FanDuel.
While it can be easy to look ahead at potential paths that could lead to a memorable run, junior forward Ben Gold emphasized the importance of taking it one game at a time in a tournament like this.
“That’s something we’ve hit on recently, being present and focusing on the game we’re in at the moment,” Gold said. “We don’t want to be thinking one game or two games ahead because we’re going to get away from what we’re doing in the moment.
“We talk about being present, focusing on each play, each possession, each round that we’re in instead of looking forward because we know that in that moment, that’s the most important thing.”
MU will be a trendy upset pick after ending the season going 5-6 in its last 11 games. But, if there’s one thing that the Golden Eagles have shown this year, it’s that they have the ability hang with anybody — especially when the 3-ball is falling.
Only time will tell how far Marquette will go in the single-most unpredictable sporting event in the calendar year, and it’s a privilege to be able to cover it for all of you.
See you on the dance floor.
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at matthew.baltz@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.
