Through three games, we have a pretty solid read on some aspects of Marquette women’s basketball this season. We can tell they’re definitely better than Mississippi Valley State and Presbyterian, winning both games by 30+. That’s a Bare Minimum situation though, as both squads project to be amongst the worst in the country this season. We can tell that Marquette can adjust to what’s going on around them in a game, as the Golden Eagles had to alter the course of the Presbyterian game after the Blue
Hose were giving MU trouble through the first 15 minutes or so. The same goes for the Minnesota game as Marquette roared back from down 12-0 out of the gate to take a lead in the second quarter. If you want to take the optimist’s view, you can even point at MU taking a punch from the Gophers in the last five minutes of the third quarter and then returning that punch over the next several minutes. Not enough to actually win, but enough to make Minnesota buckle up and close out the game.
As shake out cruises go, not too bad from Marquette so far. It was always going to take head coach Cara Consuegra a little bit of time to figure out exactly what she had with this roster that she essentially had to rebuild on the fly last spring. If the worst thing we can say about the Golden Eagles right now is “they weren’t ready for the challenge of a ranked opponent in the second game of the season,” that’s not that big of a deal.
As long as they continue to fix the problems in front of them and keep improving, things are going to work out okay in general. We can have a conversation about where exactly the ceiling on “work out okay” is after we see what happens in Springfield on Friday night. Based on analytic profiles, there’s not that much separating Missouri State from a Big East opponent, both right now and over the last several years. If Marquette wants to have a successful season in 2026-27, they’re going to have to win several games like Friday night’s against the Bears, because there’s nine of them waiting in Big East play. Same goes for MU’s next game, but that’s a conversation for after we see what happens in this one.
One step at a time, growth, progress, etc. One thing to keep in mind on that topic: Marquette handled Presbyterian in the second half with not much difficulty, and they did that with Halle Vice on the bench for 15 of the 20 minutes after the break. She subbed out at the 4:31 mark of the third quarter with Marquette up 60-36 and did not return. Nothing wrong with her, at least immediately obviously outwardly, and MU won the rest of the game 27-18. That’s valuable learning experience for the rest of the squad to 1) come together as a group and 2) figure out how to play without Vice, seeing as she can’t play 40 minutes every night. Will that experience pay off here? Maybe it’s more of a long range situation, but it can’t hurt, either.
Game #4: at Missouri State Bears (3-0)
Date: Friday, November 13, 2026
Time: 6:30pm Central
Location: Great Southern Bank Arena, Springfield, Missouri
Video Streaming: ESPN+
Audio Streaming: MSU’s radio broadcast on KWTO 93.3 FM is available on The Varsity Network
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Marquette is 1-2 all time against Missouri State. All three meetings happened in a two year window, with two happening eight days apart in the 1994-95 series. MU lost 88-52 on the road against a ranked MSU team in December 1993, then lost in Springfield in the first game of the 94-95 season as part of the preseason NIT, falling by four points in overtime. The home date for Marquette was on December 3rd, and that was a 64-51 victory for the most recent encounter.
Missouri State is off to a 3-0 start which has raised their profile in the analytics world already. Part of that is because they snagged two blowout road wins in their last two games. The Bears were favored both times according to the BartTorvik.com computers, but by single digits. So when you go out to Wyoming and win by 35 and then go to Wichita State and win by 28 — when the Shockers were hosting Wichita school kids! — that’s going to make the computers stand up and take notice. And so MSU is up to #75 in the country at Torvik insetad of their preseason rank of #93. These aren’t necessarily wins that are going to help them build an NCAA tournament profile or anything, but road wins aren’t a bad thing, either.
I’m not sure if the blowouts of bad teams — they beat Southeast Missouri State by 37 in their home opener as well — is telling us anything particularly important about the Bears quite yet. It’s hard to take their defensive numbers seriously, because Opponent Bad explains a top 20 effective field goal percentage defense as well as the best defensive rebounding rate in the country right now. That kind of effectiveness is why Missouri State has been able to blow games wide open while shooting under 30% on three-pointers and just 50% on shots inside the arc. If Marquette can keep the Bears away from the rim — nearly 60% on close twos, under 37% on far twos — that’s going to limit their offensive effectiveness and force them to rely on a defense that hasn’t quite been tested yet this season.
Kaemyn Bekemeier is Missouri State’s top scorer through three games, averaging 11.7 points. The 5’9” guard has taken just eight of her 34 field goal attempts from behind the arc, which is a little surprising. The blowouts are limiting her attempts because her minutes are way down from last year as a result, but her per-40 minutes shooting numbers are down as well. Take what opponents give you, sure, but Bekemeier was a 34% three-point shooter last year and she came into the year not far under 37% in her career. Lanie Douglas is leading the squad in rebounding, averaging 6.0 per game even though she’s been playing less than half the game on average while starting all three contests. Occupying the 6’3” junior forward has to be high on Marquette’s list of things to do here, even if MSU’s rebounding numbers might be a little inflated due to level of competition.
