It will be a rowdy setting Friday when No. 18 Marquette hosts George Mason in a nonconference matchup inside the program’s 4,000-seat on-campus arena at Milwaukee, with tickets only available to students.
Marquette (1-0) took down Stony Brook 102-62 on Monday night in a game held at the 17,341-capacity downtown arena the Golden Eagles share with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
Marquette senior Kam Jones started his final season with a bang, nearing a career high with 32 points on 14-of-16 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range.
“He’s one of the best finishers for a guard that I’ve ever seen,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. “He was able to create a lot of short shots, within his range. He’s a very good post player, you don’t really think of guards that way.”
Chase Ross added 23 points for the Golden Eagles along with eight rebounds and four assists. David Joplin scored 13 and grabbed seven rebounds.
“For the first game, I thought our guys did a lot of really good things,” Smart added. “We shared the basketball well, played with a level of efficiency and aggressiveness.”
George Mason (1-0), the original school of former Marquette standout guard Tyler Kolek, cruised to a 75-58 win at home against North Carolina Central on Monday.
“There’s a lot of things that I would have liked to see go in our favor tonight,” George Mason coach Tony Skinn said. “But at the end of the day, it’s the first day of college basketball, a win is a win and George Mason did not go viral.”
Darius Maddox led the way with 17 points and five rebounds for the Patriots. Brayden O’Connor, Jalen Haynes & Giovanni Emejuru each had 11 points.
“We worked really hard, especially with the new guys,” Maddox said. “It felt like this year we connected a lot earlier than last year, cool to see how they (the young players) operate. It was fun getting out there.”
The Patriots are coming off a season where they went 20-12 overall and 9-9 in Atlantic 10 Conference play. Their season ended in the second round of the Atlantic 10 tournament when they fell 64-57 to Saint Joseph’s.
“It’s fun to compete and show that there’s talent here at the mid-major level just like any other level,” said Maddox, who transferred to George Mason from Virginia Tech before last season.
Marquette finished 27-10 last season and 14-6 in Big East play. They fell short of another conference tournament title when they lost 73-57 in the final to UConn, then made it to the Sweet 16 before falling 67-58 to NC State.
Marquette is moving forward this season without Kolek and Oso Ighodaro. Both were selected in the NBA draft by the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns, respectively.
Jones decided to remain at Marquette one more year rather than enter the NBA draft despite projections that he would have been selected. Nobody else on the roster transferred or graduated.