No. 25/23 #MUBB Faces No. 6/5 St. John’s In BIG EAST Semifinals

The No. 25/23 Marquette University men’s basketball team (23-9, 13-7 BIG EAST) continues play at the 2025 BIG EAST Tournament presented by Jeep at 5:30 p.m. CT on Friday, March 14 when the squad faces No. 6/5 St. John’s (28-4, 18-2 BIG EAST) in the semifinals from Madison Square Garden. FOX features the national television broadcast, with Gus Johnson (play-by-play) and Jim Jackson (analyst) calling the action.  Friday’s matchup marks the Golden Eagles’ third-straight trip to the tournament semifinals.

Al McGuire Ties Marquette And St. John’s

The all-time series (Marquette leads 29-18) began in 1959-60 and prior to the clinching of the BIG EAST title on the last day of the regular season in 2012-13, the series’ top highlight was a 65-53 Marquette victory in the championship game of the 1970 NIT.

MU claimed the NIT title under the direction of legendary head coach Al McGuire, who played for three seasons at St. John’s (1948-51). In his first season with the Redmen, he finished third in scoring with an 8.1 points per game average.

McGuire’s coaching career at Marquette included the 1977 national title, nine NCAA tournament appearances and a 295-80 overall record.

St. John’s claimed both of the regular season meetings in 2024-25, most recently an 86-84 overtime decision on March 8, 2025 at Fiserv Forum. Senior guard Kam Jones led four players in double figures with 32 points, but St. John’s Zuby Ejiofor‘s floater as time expired proved to be the difference in the extra session.

The two programs last met in the BIG EAST tourney in the 2023 quarterfinals, with Marquette claiming a narrow 72-70 victory en route to the team’s first-ever tournament title.

Jones Reaches 2K, Leads Marquette Rally    

Marquette senior guard Kam Jones scored 18 of his 28 points in the second half on Thursday afternoon, helping the Golden Eagles rally for an 89-97 win after trailing by as many as 14 points.

The Memphis native moved into second all-time in scoring at Marquette and he is now just the second player in the program’s 108-year history to score over 2,000 career points.  Jones currently has 2,005 points and passed guard Jerel McNeal (1,985 – 2005-09) for second place.

All-America selection Markus Howard (2,761 – 2016-20) is Marquette’s all-time leading scorer and his total was the 23rd-best in NCAA history entering 2024-25.

Parham Provides Scoring Boost In Win  

Freshman guard Royce Parham, who hadn’t scored more than eight points in any of the team’s previous 11 outings, finished with 10 points in 18 minutes of action off the bench in the win over Xavier.

The Pittsburgh native finished 3-of-5 from the floor overall and 2-of-4 from behind the 3-point line and also added a pair of rebounds and a blocked shot.  He’s now scored 10-or-more points in four games this season, most recently a 10-point effort vs. Villanova on Jan. 24, 2025 at Fiserv Forum.

Marquette Continues 19th BIG EAST Tourney    

Marquette is competing in its 19th BIG EAST Conference Tournament (20th season overall – no league tourney in 2020) and is making its third-straight trip to the semifinals (three total trips to semis in first 16 years in the conference).

The Golden Eagles are 18-17 all-time in the BIG EAST Tournament and 30-32 in postseason events since joining a league in 1989-90.

The Golden Eagles defeated St. John’s, UConn and Xavier en route to the program’s first BIG EAST tourney crown (claimed the regular-season title) in 2022-23 and fell in the title game to UConn last year.

Prior to 2022-23, MU’s lone league tournament title came in 1996-97 when the team won four games in four days at the Conference USA Championship.

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.