Coming off two consecutive nonconference defeats at home, Marquette looks to right the ship on Saturday as it hosts Central Michigan in Milwaukee.Marquette (3-3) has fallen to both high-major opponents it has faced in Indiana and Maryland, and then took a brutal 77-71 overtime defeat against Dayton on Wednesday.While Marquette has made the NCAA Tournament in each of Shaka Smart’s first four seasons as coach, the Golden Eagles’ at-large hopes for this season have already taken a big hit.Smart defended his lack of usage of the transfer portal to acquire talent after Wednesday’s loss.”We’ve had a lot of success around here the way we’ve gone about things,” Smart said. “It’s not new. … I’ve been doing this a long time, criticism comes with the territory. But if you look at the way our process has gone, in the time that we’ve been here, I think it’s been pretty good.”Freshman Nigel James Jr. played the most minutes (38) of his young career and led Marquette with 18 points, but on just 5-of-16 shooting. Chase Ross had 15 on 5-of-14 shooting.
