
Knew it was just a matter of time before we got those after we got word of two number changes.
Couple of days back, Marquette men’s basketball announced uniform number changes for Caedin Hamilton and Damarius Owens. At the time, an astute AE reader noted that maaaaaaybe their changes were making way for Marquette’s four freshmen to occupy #35 and #10 respectively for the 2025-26 season.
Got it in one, that’s for sure.
On Saturday, Marquette debuted the official “welcome to Milwaukee” post for the four freshmen in the class of 2025. A quick check Ye Olde Official Roster Page confirms that yep, the numbers on display are the numbers that each guy will be wearing in 2025-26.
Going in numerical order, then……
Nigel James — #0
Depending on the speed at which Marquette moves to retire jersey numbers in the future now that any number from 0 through 99 is available, it’s possible that Nigel James could be one of if not the last MU player to wear #0. Shouts to Oliver Lee, Amal McCaskill, one season of Odartey Blankson, and three seasons of Jamil Wilson, but yeah: Markus Howard’s the best Marquette player to ever wear #0, and hoooooboy, it’s gonna be hard to knock him off the perch. Howard is also the most recent guy to wear #0, and if someone’s gonna take the “best to wear it” title from him, it’s going to require taking down at least one major program record to match Howard as MU’s all-time leading scorer as well as besting Howard in the NCAA tournament success department.
Adrien Stevens — #10
There’s a long history of notable guys wearing #10 for Marquette. The history of the number goes all the way back to 1941 when Richard Collentine had it for a couple of seasons. It went fallow for a long while between the mid-1940s and the mid-1970s, and Tony Miller officially put a memorable stamp on the number when he broke Lloyd Walton’s record for assists in a career…….. and then went SAILING past Walton’s 480 to a grand total of 956 helpers.
Since then, we’ve seen Cordell Henry, Travis Diener, David Cubillian, Juan Anderson, Sam Hauser, and Justin Lewis have notable contributions to the Golden Eagles. #10 has been bouncing from guy to guy since Lewis left for a pro career after his sophomore season. Zach Wrightsil had it for the brief minutes we saw him, then Zaide Lowery during his freshman year, and then Damarius Owens had it last year. Will Stevens be the first guy since Juan Anderson to wear #10 for four seasons?
Ian Miletic — #21
There is a very long list of guys who have wore #21 for Marquette, starting with Thomas McCarthy in 1940-41. There’s also not a deep swath of extremely notable guys who have worn #21. Ulice Payne wore it on the 1977 national championship team. We have nice memories of Trend Blackledge and Joe Fulce, but no one’s confusing their on-court contributions to Marquette with some of the program’s all-time legends. After Traci Carter gave it up when he left MU, it’s been bouncing from guy to guy since then with Al Amadou holding onto it until he decided to transfer after the 2024-25 season. I think the door’s open for Miletic to turn into the best #21 in program history, and a couple of all-Big East honors might be enough to push him over the line.
Michael Phillips II — #35
Phillips picks up #35 after Caedin Hamilton shifted to #18, continuing on a tradition of guys with that number since Eric Schnepp was the first ever #35 back in 1950-51. It’s not a gigantic list of guys who wore the number as it’s gone in and out of vogue. 10 years went by between Mike Mills and Lloyd Moore, another seven between Moore and Damon Key, and then over a decade between Marcus Johnson (03-05) and when Kur Kuath pulled it out of mothballs in 2021.
Key is obviously the best #35 in program history, as he’s currently #14 on the all-time scoring list and #11 on the rebounding chart. Heck, when he finished up in 1994, there were only four guys in front of him on the all-time scoring list: George Thompson, Butch Lee, Tony Smith, and Bo Ellis. It’s gonna take an awful lot for Phillips to overtake Key in terms of historical #35’s in MU history, but it feels like there’s a pretty solid pathway to second best at the very least.
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