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Marquette’s Top 10 Sports Moments of 2024

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This past year, Marquette continued to solidify itself as a sporting school. Whether it was Tyler Kolek’s single-game program assist record, Aubrey Hamilton’s 28 kill game or Yadhira Anchante earning All-American status for the second year in a row—there’s a lot that proved it. As the new year approaches and 2025 Marquette sports begin to kick into gear, we want to take a look back on what made 2024 so blue and gold.

10. Al McGuire Center student-only game against George Mason | Nov. 8

After making an appearance at the beginning of the Marquette men’s basketball 2022-23 season, the student-only tradition at the Al McGuire Center was brought back by popular demand. In the Golden Eagles’ second game of this season, against George Mason, the two teams dueled on campus in an intimate sea of white for a deafening 3,700 university enrollees—Thunderstruck and all.

The Al is a small cry from Marquette’s usual 17,500 capacity venue in downtown Milwaukee, Fiserv Forum. Though, smaller proved to be helpful. Despite the Golden Eagles trailing 36-37 after the first half, they rallied with the help of David Joplin’s 27 points and won 82-63.

Marquette is 2-0 in student-only games.

9. Marquette men’s basketball beats Villanova in OT to march into Big East semifinals | March 14

In the “World’s Most Famous Arena,” Marquette played Villanova in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. With memories of hoisting the trophy and cutting the net from the 2023 gauntlet, the Golden Eagles had expectations to live up to —and they didn’t disappoint.

With two seconds left in regulation, the game was tied 58-58. After a last second Kam Jones shot was waved off, the game was sent to overtime. It was the first minutes of post-regulation basketball the Golden Eagles had played all season.

While the clock was winding down, Oso Ighodaro, who hadn’t hit a field goal in 44 minutes, sunk the dagger with a signature one-handed floater. The Garden’s Marquette faithful exploded.

The Wildcats wouldn’t score again, and Marquette would take the win 71-65.

8. Consuegra returns to Marquette as women’s basketball head coach | April 17

On April 17, Marquette women’s basketball announced that Cara Consuegra would be returning to Marquette as head coach after previously serving as an assistant with the program from 2004-11.

“My family and I are very excited to be returning to Marquette, a place that we consider home,” Consuegra said in a release from Marquette Athletics. “I want to thank Bill Scholl and Dr. Lovell for the opportunity to lead this prestigious program.

“I also want to thank Charlotte and all the people and players who allowed us to be a part of their lives for 13 incredible years.”

Consuegra returned to the Golden Eagles after 13 seasons at Charlotte as their women’s basketball head coach. There were just six rostered members on Marquette when Consuegra took the job in April. Consuegra and her staff were tasked with quickly filling out a roster, of which they snagged six transfers.

7. Hamilton drops 28 kills in reverse sweep of DePaul | Oct. 18

On Oct. 18, Marquette volleyball welcomed a DePaul squad to the Al McGuire Center that it had not lost to since 2008. But on this evening, DePaul didn’t seem to care that it wasn’t expected to win, in fact, the Blue Demons were fueled by that notion.

After losing the first two sets, the Golden Eagles were stared face-to-face with the potential of suffering one of the biggest upsets in program history.

But up stepped Hamilton. The senior had been here before, and boy did she play like it. She tallied seven kills in the third set, 10 in the fourth and three in the fifth.

“It was pretty amazing,” she said about her reaction after winning the match, “because we struggled in the beginning, and just to come through and win this set and the match altogether was awesome.”

Thanks to the superhuman 28-kill effort from the Notre Dame transfer, the Golden Eagles avoided disaster, winning the match 3-2.

6. Kam Jones grabs a triple-double against No. 6 Purdue | Nov. 19

Kam Jones, the kid from Memphis, Tennessee, had a lot on his plate in Marquette’s fifth game of the season against then No. 6 Purdue. He had big shoes to fill following Tyler Kolek’s departure the previous season. Jones was the new decision maker for the team—the one taking the ball down, the pacemaker.

In this proving ground of a match for Jones, he made history.

When the buzzer rang out, the final score read 78-56, a Golden Eagle win—but just above that was Jones’ stat line: 17 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. He became the third player in program history to tally a triple-double and the first one to do it since Dwayne Wade in the Elite Eight against Kentucky.

“It means a lot. It’s what you come to Marquette for,” Jones said after the upset. “Give God all the glory. It’s a huge testament to my teammates just trusting me. I appreciate them trusting me to be one of the main leaders of this team. Everybody was huge for us tonight. Everyone was huge for us winning.”

5. Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro drafted to the NBA | June 27

For the first time since 2012, Marquette had two players from their program selected in the same NBA draft.

Tyler Kolek, the two-time consensus All-American, was drafted No. 34 by the Portland Trailblazers in the second round and was immediately traded to the New York Knicks. In his senior season, Kolek led the country with 7.7 assists per game, while also averaging 15.3 points. In his sophomore year, he shot 28 percent from beyond the arc, but that exploded to 39.3 percent in his junior and senior years.

Six spots later, Oso Ighodaro’s name was called by the Phoenix Suns. Ighodaro, a Chandler, Arizona native, got to go back home. He averaged 13.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game his senior year.

“A winner,” Ighodaro said about what the Suns can expect out of him. “Someone that cares about everything that goes into winning. Great teammate, a great person and a hard worker.”

On Nov. 21, Kolek and Ighodaro played against each other for the first time.

Both of their jersey numbers had to change from Marquette to the NBA, but each still held significance. Kolek chose No. 13 in honor of Ighodaro and Ighodaro claimed No. 4 in admiration of current Golden Eagle player, Stevie Mitchell.

4. Marquette men’s basketball beats Wisconsin for the first time since 2020 | Dec. 7

The blue and gold hadn’t taken home a win against the Badgers in the I-94 rivalry since 2020. The competition between the in-state schools was held on Golden Eagle hardwood this year and 18,107 fans packed Fiserv Forum. A Marquette men’s basketball attendance record.

The Golden Eagles were down 37-39 after the first, but a Kam Jones four-point play with 12:18 left in the game ignited a spark: a 9-0 scoring run that lasted two and a half minutes and left the Badgers in the dust.

Jones would end up with 32 points, just two shy of a personal scoring record, and lead his squad to a win over the fabled foe 88-74. It’s the most they’ve won by since 2017.

3. Marquette volleyball takes a trip to the Sweet Sixteen for the third time in school history | Dec. 6

For the second time in three years, the Golden Eagles were dancing in the round of 16.

The fifth seeded Golden Eagles downed fourth seeded host Utah Dec. 6 at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in five sets (25-23, 25-22, 18-25, 24-26, 15-12) to advance to the Sweet 16 for just the third time in program history. It was the first time that Marquette has done it away from home.

“I’m just so happy for this group,” Theis said. “They got there as sophomores, and they just missed as juniors. We weren’t on fire to start off the season. I know that getting to that second weekend is huge for them.

“They earned it. So happy for the group. To get to another one and a shot at the Elite Eight—we talk about, what record can you break each year? We’ve been ranked as high as No. 7 in the country, we’ve been to a Sweet Sixteen, we’ve won a Big East regular season championship; what else can we do? We’re still going, and I don’t know who we play yet or where we go. But we’re gonna get to go try again.”

The Golden Eagles ultimately fell short in the Sweet Sixteen to the eventual national champion Penn State Nittany Lions, three sets to one.

2. Yadhira Anchante becomes first player in school history to notch 2,000 assists and 1,000 digs | Dec 13

Setter Yadhira Anchante became the first player in school history to tally 2,000 assists and 1,000 digs in Marquette’s Sweet Sixteen loss to Penn State.

Anchante ended her career with 3,440 assists and 1,016 digs. She also finished in ninth place on Marquette’s all-time assist leaderboard.

1. Marquette men’s basketball makes it to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2013 | March 24

Head coach Shaka Smart and Marquette men’s basketball had accomplished a lot in their three-year stint together. Multiple two seeds? You got it. A Big East regular season championship? Absolutely. How about the school’s first Big East Tournament championship? You bet.

But, in the first two seasons, the Golden Eagles failed to make it past the first weekend. Losses to North Carolina and Michigan State prevented the Golden Eagles from dancing.

But in Indianapolis, Marquette wouldn’t be denied its chance to dance this time.

With a 87-69 win over Western Kentucky in round one and a 81-77 win over Colorado in round two, the Golden Eagles were Sweet Sixteen bound for the first time in a decade.

“We came in here, we knew that they would come out aggressive,” sophomore forward Ben Gold said. “It’s March Madness. It’s do or die. They want to win the game as much as we want to win it.

“We just know that every time that happens, we know how to respond and what to do. It’s happened multiple times this year. We’ve had the practice to fall back on throughout the year.”

This article was written by Benjamin Hanson and Matthew Baltz. They can be reached at benjamin.hanson@marquette.edu and matthew.baltz@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @benhansonMU and @MatthewBaltzMU.