#MUBB Opens NCAA Tournament Friday Night vs. New Mexico

The Marquette University men’s basketball team (23-10, 13-7 BIG EAST) opens play in the 2025 NCAA tournament when the squad faces New Mexico (26-7, 17-3 MWC) on Friday, March 21 at 6:35 p.m. CT from Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The Golden Eagles are the No. 7 seed in the South Region and the Lobos are seeded 10th. The winner of Friday’s matchup advances to face the winner of the Michigan State-Bryant game on Sunday, March 23 in the second round.

Marquette Making 37th NCAA Appearance

Marquette is making its 37th appearance in the NCAA tournament and is participating in in fourth-straight event for first time since 2012-13 (last of eight-straight trips).

The program, which claimed the national title in 1977 under legendary head coach Al McGuire, also owns 17 trips to the Sweet Sixteen (most recently in 2023-24) and has participated in the Final Four on three occasions (1974, 1977, 2003).

Marquette has faced New Mexico on one previous occasion, with the Lobos downing the Golden Eagles, 75-68, on Dec. 21, 2013 at the MGM Grand Showcase in Las Vegas.

The Golden Eagles are 1-2 all-time as the No. 7 seed in the NCAA tournament, most recently falling to 10th-seeded Alabama, 90-85, in the opening around of the 2006 tourney in San Diego.

Marquette’s last trip to Cleveland for the postseason in 2010-11 resulted in the first of three-straight Sweet 16 appearances (Elite Eight in 2012-13) after wins over Xavier and Syracuse as the No. 11 seed in the East Region.

Program Postseason History

• 1977 NCAA Champions (defeated North Carolina 67-59 in Atlanta in Al McGuire’s last game)
• 37th NCAA tournament appearance is tied for ninth-highest total all-time (44-37 all-time record)
• 54th postseason appearance overall (37 NCAA, 16 NIT, 1 National Catholic Championship; top-10 among all Division I programs)
• Three trips to the Final Four (1974, 1977, 2003)
• 17 trips to the Sweet 16 (most recently 2023-24)

Continuity Is Key To Recent Success 

Since the 2022-23 campaign, Marquette is the only power conference team that hasn’t signed a NCAA Division I transfer, leading to as consistent a starting lineup as any program in the country.

Through games of March 16, Marquette is one of just two squads (St. Mary’s College) to feature the same starting lineup (Jones, Mitchell, Joplin, Ross, Gold). Two years ago, Marquette and Marshall were the only two teams in the country to utilize the same starting five the entire season.

Since the opening contest of the 2022-23 campaign (Kolek, Ighodaro, Prosper, Mitchell, Jones), just eight different players have started a game for MU, the lowest total in all of NCAA Division I. Of the eight, the three players (Kolek, Ighodaro, Prosper) currently not starting for the team are competing in the NBA.

In league action the last three regular seasons, only two-time defending national champion UConn (45) has won more BIG EAST games than MU (44).

Schedule Preps Marquette For Postseason

The Golden Eagles played a total of 13 games this season versus nine different programs also participating in the 2025 NCAA tournament field.

Included in the group of nine opponents are five programs (St. John’s, Iowa State, Maryland, Wisconsin and Purdue) ranked in the most recent Associated Press Top-25 national ranking.

The 11-team BIG EAST Conference is represented by five programs in the NCAA tourney, including two-time defending national champion UConn.

Jones Makes Reservation For 2K

Marquette senior guard Kam Jones was named to the BIG EAST All-Tournament Team after averaging 26.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in a pair of outings, but his most impressive accomplishment came in the tourney opener vs. Xavier.

The Memphis native finished with 28 points in the win over the Musketeers, becoming just the second player in program history with 2,000 career points in the process. Jones passed Jerel McNeal (1,985 – 2005-09) for second place all-time and is now just one of two players at Marquette to score over 2,000 points.

Two-time All-America selection Markus Howard (2016-20) concluded his career with 2,761 points, the 23rd-best total in NCAA history.

Mitchell Nearing Career Offensive Milestone

Guard Stevie Mitchell is one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Men’s Defensive Player of the Year presented by MOLECULE and a finalist for the Lefty Driesell Award, also presented to the nation’s top defender.

While his defense gets well-deserved recognition, the Reading, Pennsylvania, native is close to joining an exclusive club at Marquette. He enters Friday’s outing just six points (994) away from becoming the 55th player in the 108-year history of Marquette basketball to score 1,000 career points.

Mitchell has reached double figures in four of the team’s last six outings and is averaging a career-best 10.9 points per game in 2024-25.

Joplin Familiar Name In Official Scorebook

Senior forward David Joplin, who hasn’t missed a game in his four-year career, will set the program record for games played when the ball is tipped on Friday against New Mexico.

The Milwaukee native will make his 139th appearance for the Golden Eagles, passing Lazar Hayward (138 – 2006-10) for the top spot in the program’s record book. Joplin, the BIG EAST Sixth Man of the Year in 2022-23, came off the bench in each of his first two seasons (68 games) and has started all 70 of Marquette’s outings the last two years.

The four members of this year’s senior class – Joplin (138), Kam Jones (136), Stevie Mitchell (134) and Cam Brown (20) – a group called “The Guardians”, have combined to appear in 428 career games for the Blue & Gold under Shaka Smart.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.