The Marquette University men’s basketball team (3-2, 0-0 BIG EAST) continues its four-game homestand Wednesday night when the squad faces Dayton (3-1, 0-0 Atlantic 10) at 6:30 p.m. CT in Fiserv Forum.  truTV features the national television broadcast, with Brian Anderson (play-by-play), Greg Anthony (analyst) and Lauren Jbara (reporter) calling the action.  Following Wednesday’s outing, MU will conclude its homestand on Saturday, Nov. 22 against Central Michigan.

Series With Flyers Began In 1966-67 Campaign

Marquette and Dayton conclude a home-and-home series Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum.

The Flyers rallied for a 71-63 win at UD Arena last season in the first meeting between the two programs since 1994-95.  Guard Chase Ross led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 19 points and also chipped in five rebounds.

Head coach Shaka Smart worked for Oliver Purnell at Dayton as director of basketball operations for two seasons (2001-03). During that time, the Flyers registered a 45-17 mark and won the 2003 Atlantic 10 Championship. The 2002-03 squad posted a 24-6 record and earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Ross’ Career Day Not Enough On Saturday

Senior Chase Ross continued his strong start to 2025-26 on Saturday, finishing with a career-high 31 points against Maryland.

The Dallas native finished 10-of-19 from the floor in 33 minutes of action and also chipped in four assists, three rebounds and a pair of steals.  He reached the 30-point mark for the first time in his 107-game career, despite missing an extended portion of the second half with foul trouble.

Through games of Nov. 15, Ross is ranked among the league leaders in scoring (2nd, 20.8 ppg.), field goal percentage (7th, .508), assists (4th, 4.00 apg.), free throw percentage (13th, .786) and steals (12th, 1.6 spg.).

Player Development A Work In Progress 

Along with Marquette’s freshman class, the team’s returnees find themselves in brand new roles on the 2025-26 roster and through five games the season statistics are beginning to illustrate the on-the-court development.

As the team’s primary offensive option, guard Chase Ross has nearly doubled his scoring average (20.8 ppg.) from 2024-25 in an average of just 28.1 minutes per outing, which is less than he averaged (30.3 mpg.) as a junior.  Junior guard Zaide Lowery is playing nearly 10 more minutes per game and as a result has seen his scoring average jump from 4.1 points to 10.4 points per contest and sophomore Caedin Hamilton, who averaged just 6.3 minutes per game as a reserve in 29 outings last year, has started all five contests this season and is playing 18.2 minutes per contest.

Senior Ben Gold is grabbing a personal-best 8.4 boards per game and scored a career-high 18 points against Maryland and sophomore forward Royce Parham is playing an average of 20.4 minutes per night and has seen his scoring average jump from 5.1 points to 8.2 points per outing in 2025-26.

Freshman guard Nigel James Jr. has started each of the last two outings following a shoulder injury to junior Sean Jones and James Jr. and classmates Adrien Stevens, Josh Clark and Michael Phillips Jr. have combined to play an average of 51.4 minutes per game.