Michigan basketball has a test against Marquette's swarming Shaka Smart defense
· Yahoo Sports
Michigan basketball continues its tour of the Big East with a home matchup Wednesday.
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The No. 20 Wolverines (1-1) host Marquette (2-0) on Nov. 11 (7 p.m., FS1) for the first meeting between the two sides in nearly a decade. The last time the two met was Nov. 17, 2016, when John Beilein's Wolverines defeated the Golden Eagles 79-61 in the 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden.
Marquette is one of four current Big East teams on U-M's November schedule, which includes UConn (L, 85-77; Nov. 6), Villanova (Nov. 21) and Creighton (Nov. 24) at the Players Era Championship − the first time in program history U-M will play four different current Big East members in a single season.
Marquette, led by Shaka Smart, now in his sixth season in Milwaukee, comes off the program's worst season (12-20) since 1987-88 (10-18) but is off to a better start against lesser competition to open 2026-27, having won 78-43 over Mercyhurst and 93-32 against Detroit Mercy.
For those unimpressed by those results (which is understandable), Marquette also beat Michigan State 86-79 in the exhibition season − an MSU team that beat Duke 79-73 in the Champions Classic on Tuesday in Chicago − so this is a team that is ready for high-level basketball.
Junior Royce Partham (14 points and 7 rebounds) and 7-foot-1 sophomore center Joshua Clark (13.0 points, 7.5 rebounds) lead the Golden Eagles in the front court, while guard play has been inconsistent early on with Nigel James Jr (6.5 points, 5.5 assists) and Adrien Stevens (7.5 points, 3.0 assists) as the main options.
James, however, was the Big East Freshman of the Year in 2025-26, so he's more capable than his start suggests.
Marquette's early success has come on defense, ranked No. 1 nationally in effective field goal defense (29.5), No. 1 in 3-point defense (16.4%), No. 4 in block rate (25.8%), No. 5 in average 2-point distance (8.9 feet), No. 7 in turnover rate (28.1%) and No. 11 in adjusted efficiency (93.1) according to KenPom. Marquette's best strength on offense is grabbing its own misses (50.7%), which it's done at the second best clip in the country through two games, albeit against smaller competition.
That said, the Golden Eagles struggling shooting, ranked No. 277 on 3-pointers (26.7&) and No. 283 on free throws (63.9%). Also keep an eye on how Smart uses his bench, as 10 players average between 13 and 23 minutes per game. Will he keep a lengthy rotation to try and wear Michigan down, or was that simply a product of two early blowouts?
Michigan leads the all-time series 14-6, highlighted by an 8-1 record in Ann Arbor. U-M has not hosted Marquette since an 89-81 victory on Dec. 22, 1990, almost 36 years ago. Marquette's only win in Ann Arbor came on Dec. 15, 1954 (83-78).
This would be a good time for Michigan's bench (which has scored just 18.6% of the team's points this year) to show it can be a factor in helping expand the lead, not just try to hold down the fort while the starters get a breather.
Michigan has not lost consecutive basketball games since it lost three straight to close the 2024-25 regular season, when Dusty May was in his first year in Ann Arbor.
Michigan vs Marquette basketball prediction
This should be a more reasonable test for Michigan at this stage in the season than either UConn or Houston − two potentially top-five teams with a lot of returning experience − as U-M looks to figure out its new rotations and how players mesh together. Michigan hasn't shot well, so it will be on Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney to get downhill and put defenders in conflict when turning the corner. Marquette will be an NCAA Tournament team this year, but U-M's starting line is more talented. That's enough to win on this night. The pick: Michigan 78, Marquette 74.
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Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball has a test against Marquette's swarming Shaka Smart defense