#MUBB Hosts Xavier Wednesday Night

The Marquette University men's basketball team (5-10, 0-4 BIG EAST) opens a two-game homestand Wednesday night when the squad welcomes Xavier (9-6, 1-3 BIG EAST) to Fiserv Forum for a 6 p.m. CT opening tip. FS1 features the national television broadcast, with Jeff Levering (play-by-play) and Nick Bahe (analyst) calling the action. Following Wednesday's action, the Golden Eagles will host Villanova on Saturday, Jan. 10 at 1:30 p.m. CT to conclude the homestand.

Marquette Facing Xavier For 90th Time

Marquette and Xavier will meet for the 90th time on Wednesday night, continuing a series that spans nearly half of the program's 108-year history.

The Golden Eagles own a 61-28 lead in matchups that date back to the 1958-59 campaign. MU dominated the pairings during the Al McGuire and Hank Raymonds era, at one point claiming 26-straight victories between 1969 and 1983.

The Golden Eagles claimed two of the three meetings in 2024-25, most recently posting an 89-87 victory at Madison Square Garden on March 13, 2025 in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Tournament. The two teams split the home-and-home reguular-season series last year, with each program winning on the road.

James Jr. Off To Quick Start In League Play

Freshman point guard Nigel James Jr. has scored double figures in points in seven of the last eight outings, including each of the first four BIG EAST contests.

Early in league action, he leads the team with 16.8 points per game (top freshman and eighth among BIG EAST players through games of Jan. 4) and is shooting 7-of-16 (46.2 percent) from behind the 3-point line. In an average of 29.9 minutes per contest, he is also contributing 4.0 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals per outing.

For the season, James Jr. is second on the team with 12.6 points per game, which ranks 18th in the BIG EAST.

Gold Scores, Rebounds In Last Two Outings

Senior forward Ben Gold collected his sixth double-digit scoring effort of the season on Dec. 30 against Seton Hall, finishing with a career-best 19 points off the bench to lead the Golden Eagles in scoring.

The Wellington, New Zealand followed that up with a season-high 11-rebound effort at UConn Sunday afternoon. He owns 11 games this season with seven-or-more boards after reaching that mark six times in his first 106 career appearances.

Through games of Jan. 4, Gold ranks seventh in the BIG EAST in rebounding (6.8 rpg.).

Parham Settling Into Starting Role

Sophomore forward Royce Parham made his first-career start in the BIG EAST opener and is settling in as a member of the first five.

In the first four games of league action, Parham has started each and is contributing 9.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting 45.2 percent (14-of-31) from the floor and 50.0 percent (6-of-12) from behind the 3-point line. He grabbed a career-best eight rebounds against Seton Hall and has reached double figures in points in five of the team's last eight contests.

Owens Hitting The Glass In League Action

Sophomore forward Damarius Owens is averaging nearly twice as many minutes (19.0 mpg.) per game in league play as he is for the season (11.8 mpg.) and as a result has made a bigger impact on the glass for the Golden Eagles.

In the team's four BIG EAST outings, Owens' is averaging 4.8 rebounds per outing, the second-best average on the roster.

Clark Contributes At UConn

Redshirt freshman Josh Clark posted personal highs in both points (6) and rebounds (6) in just 13 minutes of action at UConn on Sunday.

The Virginia Beach, Virginia, native made all three of his field goal attempts and also chipped in a pair of steals, seeing his most action since playing a season-high 14 minutes off the bench against Little Rock on Nov. 12.