The 2026-27 college basketball season is right around the corner, so let’s dive into the Marquette men’s basketball roster and take a look at what to expect from each player this season. Going forward in these Player Previews, we’ll be going in this order: The two freshmen going in alphabetical order by last name then doing the same for the three transfers, then moving on to the redshirt freshmen. After that, it’s the seven players returning from last year’s roster going in order of average minutes
played per game last season.
We’re going to organize our thoughts about the upcoming season as it relates to each player into categories, as we always do:
- Reasonable Expectations
- Why You Should Get Excited
- Potential Pitfalls
With that out of the way, we get our series started this season with the higher ranked of the two freshmen on the roster……
Alex Egbuonu
Freshman — #21 — Forward — 6’7” — 235 lbs — Nashua, New Hampshire
Alex Egbuonu committed to Marquette just in time to sign for the fall period a year ago. He picked the Golden Eagles out of a top five just a few weeks earlier that included Stanford, Boston College, Auburn, and Villanova.
At the time of his commitment, Egbuonu was #75 in the country in the 247 Sports Composite rankings. He ended up at #95 as we get the 2026-27 season started, although 247 has him at #85 internally. On3/Rivals had him at #97in their Industry rankings and #119 internally. ESPN is the most impressed with what Egbuonu brings to the table, as they have him at #81 in the country.
Here’s what Marquette put in the press release announcing his signing a year ago:
Egbuonu (6-7, 220) is a consensus nationally ranked prospect, rated as high as 51st in the class of 2026 by ESPN.com. A four-year letterwinner at Lawrence Academy under head coach Mike Foustoukos, he averaged 26.0 points, 11.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game in 2024-25 and was a finalist for the Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year Award. He was named team MVP and was an All-Independent School League honoree and All-NEPSAC AA selection as a junior and reached the 1,000-career point mark midway through his junior campaign. Egbuonu competed on the Adidas’ 3SSB circuit with the Boston Area Basketball Club and led the league in scoring this past season with 22.7 points per game.
And here’s the commentary from head coach Shaka Smart:
“Alex is a very unique offensive player, with the combination of power, skill and feel,” Smart said. “He blends great basketball instincts with the ability to handle, pass, and shoot, mixed with competitive fire that fits us like a glove.”
Can I interest you in a scouting report from 247’s Adam Finkelstein from July 2025?
What makes Egbuonu almost unique is his overlap of physical strength, length, and basketball skill. He’s built like a football player with a super powerful upper body, long arms, and good hands. He’s capable of going right through contact off the dribble, can navigate the lane with good footwork, but has the high release point to shoot over top of contesting defenders. His range also extends out to the three-point line, making him a three-range threat.
The consistency of his shooting is a major swing-skill and key to opening up a lot of his playmaking opportunities. He shot 27% from behind the arc in 3SSB play and looks more comfortable off a rhythm dribble. He’s a solid vertical athlete, with a second bounce, but not as quick with his first-step or laterally. He’s sometimes best defending opposing fours, but has no problem matching up with bigger guys, and is also a good rebounder (6.4).
Overall, Egbuonu is a combo-forward capable of creating mismatches with his length, strength, and versatile skill, but needs to keep working on his foot speed and the consistency of his shooting.
How about 90 seconds of highlights from a 43 point outing against Worcester Academy last December?
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Reasonable Expectations
We’re trying to figure out how a top 100 freshman fits into the rotation right away, which is always a little hard to figure out. Part of it is the skills they bring to the table and whether or not there’s an overlap with existing abilities and talents on the roster from veterans that the coaching staff trusts.
If we go by the BartTorvik.com projection, which takes the average production from a guy with his recruiting profile into account, then we can plan on 3.9 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in about 12 minutes a night. That’s probably reasonably close to numbers that would count as a successful season from Egbuonu out of the gate in his collegiate career. It’s reasonable to wonder how Egbuonu gets on the floor for Marquette this season. If we presume that the starting five from the games in Canada will carry over to the regular season, then Egbuonu goes into the year trailing behind starters Adrien Stevens and Nolan Minessale along with super sub Damarius Owens in terms of playing at shooting guard or small forward in the lineup. Michael Phillips fits into this lineup somewhere along the way, maybe Ian Miletic has minutes coming to him as well, and we can’t ignore Ethan Johnston, Egbuonu’s classmate, in terms of figuring out who may or may not get playing time.
And so, unless we think that Egbunou’s weight is going to help him steal minutes playing at the 4 behind Royce Parham — and to be honest, someone has to give Parham a break this season, so maybe? — finding playing time much less a regular role with a noticeable contribution might be hard for Egbuonu.
Why You Should Get Excited
You have to see Alex Egbuonu in action with multiple other players on the floor to really get a feel for it, but he has a surprisingly well developed physique from the waist up for a guy who’s a freshman in college. It’s just bigger and wider than a lot of guys on the roster already. I’m not saying that’s an indicator of his ability to play right away or be a notable contributor right away for sure, I’m just saying that the commentary of “oh, well, just wait til they get him in the weight room for a year” doesn’t really apply to Egbuonu because he already looks like a finished product.
Is that something that actually translates to something productive this season? I have no idea, but in a world where Marquette needs guys deep in the bench rotation to jump up and contribute a little something this season, having a guy with the potential physicality like this makes you wonder what could be.
And we have to say it: I am definitely not the only person who has noticed that the first three letters of his last name are E-G-B, right? We all know how much head coach Shaka Smart loves himself some Energy Generating Behaviors, right? If Egbuonu is remotely useful as a rotation guy out of the blocks, and especially if he makes his mark with hustle plays, the nickname Mr. EGB is just sitting right there, right?
Potential Pitfalls
How seriously do you want to take the stats from the Canada trip? In three games where he played 16, 18, and 22 minutes, Egbuonu shot 8-for-25 from the field. That’s 32%, and he did this by going 0-for-9 from long distance. Mix that along with the bit where Adam Finkelstein said Egbuonu shot just 27% from three-point land on the adidas circuit, and, uh, well, that’s not good, right? We don’t know for sure how much of the offensive system from the last few years is going to stick around now that point scoring guru Nevada Smith is now the head coach at Siena, but if the “threes or layups only” idea sticks around…. and Egbunou can’t hit threes …. well, that limits his effectiveness even if he’s shooting 50% inside the arc, right? Taking open threes has been a hallmark of the offensive structure, but I don’t know if you can play Egbuonu at all if he can’t hold up his end of the deal as the ball spins around the arc for an open shot.
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