{"id":99804,"date":"2024-10-07T12:38:27","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T16:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=99804"},"modified":"2024-10-07T12:38:27","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T16:38:27","slug":"marquette-scrimmage-takeaways-a-newcomer-shines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/07\/marquette-scrimmage-takeaways-a-newcomer-shines\/","title":{"rendered":"Marquette Scrimmage Takeaways: A Newcomer Steals the Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fans headed out to the Al McGuire Center on Saturday to get their first look at the 2024-25 Marquette men’s basketball team. The <\/span>Gold team won<\/span><\/a> the annual Blue & Gold Scrimmage with more than 1,000 fans in attendance.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Believe it or not, this is a significant step for our team and our players to play a scrimmage in front of our games with officials,” head coach <\/span>Shaka Smart<\/span><\/a> told the media<\/span><\/a>. “It is just a different dynamic than practice.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll will be released later this month. Marquette was ranked 17th in ESPN’s “<\/span>Way Too Early<\/span><\/a> Top 25 rankings” posted less than a month ago. They were\u00a0<\/span>ranked fifth<\/span><\/a> in the Associated Press preseason poll heading into the 2023-24 season.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Golden Eagles are coming off a 27-10 record last season. Three of those losses came to Big East and national champion UConn. Marquette saw <\/span>Tyler Kolek<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Oso Ighodaro<\/span><\/a> each <\/span>selected in the second round<\/span><\/a> of the NBA Draft. This is one of the steps to replacing those key departures.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s a look at the takeaways from the scrimmage as Marquette is less than a month away from the <\/span>Nov. 4 season opener<\/span><\/a> against Stony Brook.<\/span><\/p>\n

Marquette Scrimmage Takeaways: A Newcomer Steals the Show<\/b><\/h2>\n

Two of the incoming freshmen played on the winning Gold team in the Marquette scrimmage. <\/span>Joshua Clark<\/span><\/a>, a 7-foot-1 center from Houston, Texas, dunked early and often as his 17 points led the Gold team to the 57-51 win.<\/span><\/p>\n

Royce Parham<\/span><\/a>, a forward from Hudson, Ohio, also played for the Gold squad in the scrimmage, as did 6-foot-11 junior <\/span>Ben Gold<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Smart and his coaches made some adjustments to allow Clark to play around the rim while the other four players provided the spacing necessary to get the ball down low. It resulted in plenty of crowd-pleasing dunks by Clark.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Josh, you wouldn’t expect him to be one of the leading scorers,” Smart said. “That was a pleasant surprise for him to get on the rim so much. I thought Royce and Ben playing together, they have been good in practice together but normally they don’t have another new 7-footer out there with them.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clark won’t be playing for Marquette this season as the coaching staff has decided to redshirt him. That is not the case for Parham, who had 12 points in the scrimmage.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Great energy at the Al yesterday for our Blue-Gold scrimmage – thank you Marquette Nation! See you on November 4th!#WeAreMarquette<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/NDU4sH9wSm<\/a><\/p>\n

— Shaka Smart (@CoachShakaSmart) October 6, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n