No. 20/20 #MUBB Heads To UConn Wednesday Night

The No. 20/20 Marquette University men’s basketball team (22-7, 13-5 BIG EAST) wraps up the road portion of its 2024-25 campaign at UConn (20-9, 12-6 BIG EAST) on Wednesday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. CT from Gampel Pavilion. FS1 features the national television broadcast, with Jason Benetti (play-by-play) and Bill Raftery (analyst) calling the action. Following Wednesday’s outing, the Golden Eagles will host St. John’s on March 8 for Senior Day at Fiserv Forum.

All-Time Series Has Plenty Of Highlights

Marquette has faced UConn on just 20 occasions all-time (Huskies lead 12-8), but the limited series has already provided a number of memories.

The all-time series dates back to the program’s first year in the BIG EAST in 2005-06. MU hosted the Huskies at the Bradley Center on Jan. 3, 2006 in the team’s first home game as a member of the BIG EAST Conference. Steve Novak finished with 41 points and 16 rebounds and Jerel McNeal chipped in 19 points and 12 boards in a 94-79 Marquette victory over No. 2 UConn to hand the Huskies their first loss of the season.

Other series highlights include a game-winning shot by Jimmy Butler with three seconds left in a 70-68 road win in 2009-10 and a home overtime win on Jan. 1, 2013 when guard Junior Cadougan forced the extra session on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

The Huskies have claimed each of the last four meetings, including a 77-69 decision earlier this season at Fiserv Forum on Feb. 1, 2025. Guard Kam Jones led three MU players in double figures with 22 points.

Marquette Looking To Improve Tourney Seeding

Marquette’s victory over Georgetown on Saturday assured the squad a top-five finish and an opening-round bye in the upcoming BIG EAST tourney.

The Golden Eagles still have the opportunity to finish as high as second in the league, but depending on tiebreakers, could also fall to the fifth position as the league schedule begins its final week of competition.

MU’s final two games are at UConn and at home against No. 6/6 St. John’s, two squads that have also already earned a spot in the quarterfinals.

Jones Distributes At Career-Best Level In Win

Marquette guard Kam Jones collected his fifth-career double-double, all this season, in the team’s victory over Georgetown Saturday night.

In 36 minutes, he chipped in 13 points, a career-best 13 assists, five rebounds and a pair of steals. He dished out nine of his assists in the first half and his total surpassed his previous single-game best of 11 helpers at DePaul on Jan. 14, 2025.

His five double-doubles includes the program’s third triple-double, which he accomplished against Purdue on Nov. 19, 2024. The Memphis native finished the night with 17 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in 36 minutes.

Gold Backs Up Career-Best Night 

One game after scoring a career-high 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting against Providence, junior forward Ben Gold put together another strong effort in the team’s victory over Georgetown.

Saturday night against the Hoyas, Gold chipped in 15 points and four rebounds in 31 minutes of action, finishing 6-of-11 from the floor.

He scored double digits in points in back-to-back games for just the third time in his career and as a result was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll. In victories over Providence and Georgetown, he averaged 16.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per outing while combining to shoot 13-of-20 (65.0 percent) from the field overall and 60.0 percent (6-of-10) from behind the 3-point line.

In the eight games prior to Providence, Gold had reached double figures in points on just one occasion, a 10-point effort in the win over Seton Hall.

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.