NEW YORK — In a somber locker room after Marquette men’s basketball’s second 20-loss season in program history came to a close Wednesday night, emotions ranged from frustration to reflection as its young core began to process the lessons of a difficult year.
A trio of Golden Eagles sat gingerly in a dressing room tucked deep within the bowels of Madison Square Garden, slowly coming to the realization that the next era of Marquette basketball, is theirs.
In the corner sat Nigel James Jr. At his immediate right was Adrien Stevens. A few chairs down Royce Parham would be found. Together, James Jr., Stevens and Parham represent the three pillars Marquette will build around next season.
“We talk about it a lot,” Stevens said. “We want to help the program win. And us three, doing that together, is the best way for that to happen.”
James Jr., the Big East freshman of the year, didn’t have the conference tournament debut he was hoping for — finishing just 6-of-17 from the field and committing a crucial turnover in the final minute with MU trailing by one.
But it didn’t take away from his historic season, in which he averaged 19.3 points, 5.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game in conference play. His scoring average is the league’s highest by a first-year since Carmelo Anthony in 2002-03.
James Jr.’s backcourt counterpart Stevens also left a lot to be desired Wednesday, shooting 2-for-12 (1-for-10 from deep), but his in-season improvements spoke for themselves.
After averaging six points through Marquette’s first 21 games, the rookie from Potomac, Maryland was a huge reason the blue & gold improved their play over the 11 games of the season, scoring an average of 11.1 points per contest. Stevens was also Marquette’s most reliable shooter from beyond the arc this season, boasting a 37.5% clip.
The man a few chairs away, Parham, nearly willed an otherwise-dreadful Golden Eagle offense to a win over the Musketeers.
The 6-foot-8 forward was a rebound short of his third career double-double Wednesday night, posting a team-high 22 points and nine boards. The performance capped off an an extremely positive end to the season for Parham, who scored 10 or more in points in 14 of his 19 Big East outings.
After a disappointing non-conference, Parham’s offensive explosion over MU’s final 22 games of the season was something his teammates, coaches and fans alike needed to see in his sophomore campaign.
“I feel like I gained so much more confidence going from my freshman year,” Parham said. “I feel like last year I would hesitate, I wouldn’t really be aggressive or look for my own shots. But all the coaches, players, staff, they just trusted my game and they really gave me the confidence this year to be aggressive and go after things.”
The Golden Eagles were dealt their fair share of adversity this season. However, grinding with the struggles of a 6-13 start, zero high major wins until January and many losses coming in more mystifying fashion than their predecessors is something all three admitted will only fuel the fire.
“Why sell yourself short?,” Stevens said. “There’s a lot of times we could have laid down this season. But you know, we’re basketball players, we have pride. We’re competitors, coach is a big competitor.
“Why would we stop going after what we came here to do? It doesn’t matter what happened before, it doesn’t matter what’s going to happen in the future, we’re just going after it every day, just get better.
“We’re trying to win for the name on front of the jersey, just keep going.”
The Golden Eagles could very well have a pair of All-Big East preseason selections in Parham and James Jr., but as was made clear with Chase Ross this year, that doesn’t guarantee anything. There is still plenty of room for the triad to grow.
“Just going into this next year with confidence and just being more of just, like, a dude pretty much, like we say in our program,” Parham said. “Just being a dude. Just an everyday guy that gets it done, and a guy that can just help the younger people around us.”
With seniors Ross and Ben Gold out of eligibility, the squad’s leadership responsibility now falls on the young guys — something Ross is confident will help the program get to where it was in his first three years.
“The program would be in good hands with those three guys returning,” Ross said. “It’s never a doubt, especially with coach.
“Like I said, we didn’t have the greatest year, but with those three guys coming back, it’d be a special thing for Marquette next year.”
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.
