The Marquette men’s basketball team has some good, young pieces to build around.
The Golden Eagles already know they have a standout freshman point guard in Nigel James Jr., and sophomore forward Royce Parham has been a revelation in recent weeks.
It looks like freshman guard Adrien Stevens is another player MU fans can get excited about, despite a less-than-stellar team record.
Stevens made six 3-pointers and had a career-high 18 points to help the Golden Eagles earn a 70-55 victory over Butler on Feb. 7 at Fiserv Forum.
MU (9-15, 4-9 Big East) won on National Marquette Day for its third straight victory at home. Stevens’ breakout mirrors the improvement that the Golden Eagles have shown since winning their first conference game exactly a month earlier on Jan. 7.
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“We really value growth,” MU head coach Shaka Smart said. “You can’t always diagram exactly how a team is going to play out (the season) or even over the course of several years.
“But I do believe our guys have found a much better ability to play for one another. We’re getting better in a lot of different basketball areas, defensively and offensively. We still have a long way to go, but we’re getting better.
“Then you can go down the roster, we have a lot of young guys that are getting valuable experience. With that experience, you just see their confidence going up.”
Adrien Stevens has found his shooting confidence
Stevens put on a shooting show for a sellout crowd of 17,568 fans that included his stepfather and little brother, who was making an unofficial visit with the MU men’s soccer team.
Stevens missed his first two attempts from deep and still finished 6 for 9. He was also 3 for 3 on 3-pointers in MU’s last game, a loss at Seton Hall.
“I just think the continued support of Coach Smart to want to shoot the ball,” Stevens said. “And so I just got to give props to him.
“He really instills that confidence that I can go out there and shoot it.”
Stevens is 23 for 53 (43.4%) from beyond the arc in Big East play.
“He works hard at it,” Smart said. “He works very, very hard at his shooting.
“I thought he played great all around. I told him going into the game in front of the team – sometimes I like to message these guys in front of the team because they understand the power in that – that I wanted him to get 10 3-point shots up. He didn’t quite get 10, but he was close.
“We ran a lot of actions for him. Guys did a good job finding him. I think we can continue to improve really locating him, locating (freshman) Michael Phillips, locating our best shooters when they are open in transition, off of broken plays, off of offensive rebounds. Because it’s obviously a real difference-maker when he’s shooting it like that.”
Stevens’ previous high this season was 15 points against Wisconsin on Dec. 6 when he was elevated to the starting lineup.
His hot game was contagious, with MU finishing 14 for 31 (45.2%) on 3-pointers.
“They made shots, a ridiculous amount,” Butler coach Thad Matta said. “Really shot the ball well.
“They penetrate. Seems like their offense is predicated on a lot of penetration. They made some tough ones and they made them in timely fashion, every time we kind of got back into it.”
Chase Ross has huge second half
It was MU senior Chase Ross’ birthday, and it seemed like he was determined to have a big performance in his final National Marquette Day game.
He has gone through some struggles this season, but broke through in the second half, making all six of his shots and scoring 17 of his MU-high 19 points.
He was 4 for 5 on 3-pointers. Entering the game, he was just 25 for 96 (26.0%) from deep in Big East games.
“I’m just happy for him on his birthday,” Smart said. “He’s been through a lot.
“He’s very hard on himself. He’s a really good player. He’s a guy that’s contributed to a lot of winning here. He’s been part of some special teams. This year, I think being counted on as the guy earlier on to be a leader and be in charge of everyone. That was a lot for him.
“But I do think in the last half-dozen games, he’s settled into a role on our team. Where he can be aggressive. He can be the defensive playmaker that he is. He can hunt great shots. He can play off some of our other guys, play connected basketball with NJ, with Adrien. I think he’s playing better.”
Chase Ross and Nigel James Jr. spark MU’s defense
MU lost to the Bulldogs (13-11, 4-9) on Jan. 23 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis because the Golden Eagles couldn’t get the defensive stops they needed down the stretch.
MU was much sharper on defense in this one. Butler took a 28-24 lead at the 2:14 mark of the first half when Finley Bizjack (23 points) knocked down a 3-pointer, but the Golden Eagles closed the first half on an 8-0 run and then pulled away in the first eight minutes of the second.
“Our defensive intensity,” Parham said of the difference in the Butler games. “We keep deflections, we had 40-plus today.
“Today we had a bunch of steals. We call these things kills, when you get three stops in a row. We had nine today, which is like a top-10 in history for us (under Smart). Basically just us banding together and trusting your brother behind you to help you if you get beat or if you’re not in the right spot.”
MU had 12 steals and scored 21 points off 16 turnovers by Butler.
“I thought our guys did a good job getting their hands on the basketball,” Smart said. “We had 40 deflections, any time we’re over 32 it gives us a good chance to win.
“But the difference today vs. the last time out against Butler was, we actually got our hands on the ball a lot in that game but we didn’t recover the ball. We were deflecting it, and then some were unlucky but some they were just quicker to the ball. I thought today our guys did a good job for the most part flying around and finding the ball when we got our hands on it.”
That’s more growth for MU.
What channel is Marquette vs Butler on today? TV, livestream
Marquette vs Butler start time
Marquette’s probable starters
Guards: Nigel James Jr., Adrien Stevens, Chase Ross
Forwards: Ben Gold, Royce Parham
Marquette vs Butler prediction
This is another winnable game for the Golden Eagles. A win with the young talent having a good game in front of a raucous crowd would go a long way to alleviate MU fans’ frustrations with this season. The guess here is that the Golden Eagles’ Nigel James Jr. and Royce Parham lead a relatively easy victory.
Prediction: MU 75, Butler 63
Marquette vs Butler odds
Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of Feb. 7
Marquette basketball schedule 2025-26
Here are the next five games for the Golden Eagles (all times Central):
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Adrien Stevens has hot-shooting game as Marquette tops Butler, 70-55
Reporting by Ben Steele, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
