It was quiet, then it wasn’t with the commitment of Sananda Fru to join Marquette men’s basketball for the 2026-27 season. Apparently, once the dam broke, it was only a matter of time until Shaka Smart kept things moving in a positive direction, and so: St. Thomas transfer and Brookfield, Wisconsin resident Nolan Minessale will make the move to Marquette, according to Ben Steele of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Let’s start here, right from the St. Thomas game notes: MIN-ih-SAH-lee. You can go listen to Nolan himself pronounce it on his UST bio page if you want.
The 6’5”, 200 lb. Marquette University High School graduate has been with St. Thomas for the past two seasons, giving him two years of eligibility with the Golden Eagles. Minessale has been a starter for the Tommies since Day 1 on November 4, 2024, putting up 14 points, three rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal in a 96-71 win over North Central. As a freshman, he averaged 11.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.2 steals, and a Summit League best 1.1 blocks per game. No, really! Blocks! As a 6’5” guard!
Minessale came into his own with his first KenPom.com game MVP award with a 27 point outing in an overtime loss to UC Riverside in December of his freshman season, and he’s just kept it going from there. He had five KP MVPs as a freshman and followed that up with 15 more as a sophomore. As the Tommies went 24-10 this past season, Minessale led the squad in scoring (19.8 points/game) and passing (4.3 assists/game), and he added 4.6 rebounds, and 1.6 steals, too.
From a more analytical bent: Minessale finished his sophomore year top 500 in the country in effective field goal percentage according to KenPom.com and top 350 in true shooting percentage. That’s because he shot 59% (!) on two-pointers and drained 75% of his free throws, too. He was top 200 in assist rate and steal rate, two things that will play incredibly well in Milwaukee, no matter what alterations head coach Shaka Smart makes to his system after assistant coach Nevada Smith departed to be the head coach at Siena.
The only catch? Minessale only hit 30.6% of his 4.2 three-point attempts per game in 2025-26. This is not a situation where Minessale was taking a bunch of shots that he shouldn’t have been taking because the Tommies needed him to take the shots. St. Thomas finished the year at #58 in the country in three-point shooting percentage, which means that Minessale was actually dragging them down to a team average of 36.0%. Both Nick Janowski and Carter Bjerke took more threes than Minessale and made more threes than him, so we can’t say “put better shooters around him and he’ll be fine.” We can, however, say that Minessale hit 34.7% of his three-point attempts against Division 1 foes as a freshman and 34.8% in 16 Summit League games that season as well. He nearly tripled his attempt rate from year to year, so there is at least a little bit of “were you shooting more than you should because you were the leading scorer?” mixed in there.
LONG STORY SHORT: If you’ve been reading the comments since the transfer portal opened, you will have noticed me saying that Marquette needed a backup to Nigel James that also works as an off the ball backup to Adrien Stevens. Nolan Minessale is That Dude. He’s a second creator for the Golden Eagles, and his physical size — both his height as well as his wide shoulders — gives Marquette a little extra dimension in the back court, too.
You’re watching #4 in purple & white.
And here’s the newest up to date Marquette men’s basketball scholarship/roster chart:
Bringing Nolan Minessale aboard moves Marquette to 14 roster spots occupied for the 2026-27 season, and 13 for the following year as well. Barring some wild divergences in the road ahead, the rotation you see this coming season will mostly be the same one you see the following year. That’s the upside of adding Minessale: His presence is going to make things easier for Nigel James and Adrien Stevens in the backcourt for two straight seasons, and that’s going to raise Marquette’s ceiling altogether.
This also may be the end of transfers for Marquette this spring. Yes, there’s one more roster spot open, but with Minessale fitting in as the third guard in the two backcourt spots, MU loaded up with wing options, and Sananda Fru lining up to play all the minutes at center that he could possibly want….. what else could/should Marquette really add that’s obviously improving the team? I mean, sure, if Milan Momcilovic decides he really wants to play closer to his home in Pewaukee, let’s get it done… but that’s about it, y’know?
Thoughts on this being the roster that Shaka Smart will use to get the Golden Eagles back to the NCAA tournament?
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