WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Ben Gold is not familiar with this feeling.
In the Marquette men’s basketball senior forward’s first three seasons, the Golden Eagles were one of the country’s best teams in nonconference play, dropping only a combined seven non-Big East games. They often bolstered their resume with high profile wins in the early portions of the season.
Like, in his first year, when Marquette trounced No. 6 Baylor 96-70. Or, as a sophomore, when it beat No. 1 Kansas in the Maui Invitational. And, last year when Gold was a junior, when it handed top 10 Purdue its first non-con defeat in nearly four years.
But the first month and half of 2025-26 was not so kind. After their 79-59 loss to No. 6 Purdue (10-1) on Saturday, the Golden Eagles head into conference play under .500 for the first time since the 2000-01 season, with zero wins over non-quad 4 opponents.
“Yeah, I guess it’s been new,” Gold said. “In the last three seasons, especially in the nonconference, we got off to a really good start. But I think its a good test to see how we as a team can react to it. Not everything is going to go our way.”
On a depressingly snowy, cold and windy day in West Lafayette, Indiana, Marquette’s mood couldn’t have matched the conditions any better. It was a somber and sobering exit from Mackey Arena for the Golden Eagles after they dropped their third game in four years to the Boilermakers.
At its best this year, Marquette has been a team capable of getting its hands all over the ball on the defensive end, forcing turnovers and turning those into points. But that hasn’t happened nearly consistently enough.
“There’s a lot we want to focus on,” head coach Shaka Smart said. “We’re going to keep pounding the rock, I promise you that. And our guys will get better. We will grow.
“I think most importantly, just in terms of our spirit and energy, it’s got to be ‘Marquette.’ It’s got to be who we are, who we’ve been where we’ve been at our best.”
It’s been times like the first half on Saturday — where the Golden Eagles were held scoreless for over four minutes on two separate occasions — that have led to this slow start.
There have been positive moments too, though, like the dying moments of Saturday. Marquette saw some success over the course of the final 3:35, going on a 12-2 run with a lineup that featured youngsters Michael Phillips II, Josh Clark and Damarius Owens — who have not been regulars in the rotation.
“There’s not been a lot of separation, both in practice and through 11 games between the vast majority of our roster,” Smart said. “So, it does make things challenging from the standpoint of, determining who you put in there.”
Despite the shooting struggles, the defensive difficulties and the inconsistencies between lineups that have spelled disaster through 11 games, Marquette views Wednesday’s Big East opener against Georgetown as the start of a ‘new season.’
“Nonconference is done, now [our record] is 0-0 in conference,” Gold said. “Now it’s about going into it with the mindset of ‘How much does this really matter to us?’”
While the Golden Eagles’ NCAA tournament nonconference resume does not look as good as has in previous years, the blue & gold have still have seven quad 1 opportunities and seven quad 2 chances remaining on their schedule as of Dec. 14. There is a lot of basketball to still be played.
But for those Marquette players who haven’t experienced struggles like this, the challenge isn’t just improving their play on the court, but also having the mental wherewithal to realize that the season does not end in December.
“It’s a whole new start of a season,” Gold said. “This next 2-3 week period is what makes us.”
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at matthew.baltz@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.