The #8 Marquette Golden Eagles will be the third seed in the Big East Tournament and one of the players that has seen increased minutes down the stretch is freshman Tre Norman. With Tyler Kolek being sidelined with an oblique injury for the past three games, Norman has seen more minutes for the Golden Eagles.
In the last seven games, he has played 10 or more minutes each game off the bench. Marquette will probably have big plans for him during his sophomore season when Tyler Kolek graduates after this season. But for now, Kolek is going to be expected back this week for the Big East Tournament.
That should not stop head coach Shaka Smart from bringing in Tre Norman off the bench. Against the Xavier Musketeers on Saturday in an 86-80 win, he only scored three points, grabbed three rebounds, and recorded one assist in 17 minutes of game action.
However, with his talent, it goes to show how deep the Golden Eagles have been all season long. His career high in points was nine against the UCONN Huskies on 3/6. The Golden Eagles finished with a 23-8 overall record and a 14-6 BIG East Conference record, but it is the same exact record as the #10 Creighton Blue Jays.
The #2 UCONN Huskies are the number one seed in the Big East Conference Tournament. Marquette has the talent to repeat as Conference Tournament Champions, but they went a total of 1-3 against the top two teams in the conference.
#8 Marquette Golden Eagles Tre Norman Is Getting More Game Reps
The Golden Eagles starting lineup when fully healthy is Oso Ighodaro, David Joplin, Tyler Kolek, Kam Jones, and Stevie Michell. Chase Ross and Ben Gold are the first two players off the bench. After those two players off the bench, Tre Norman is the next best player off the bench for Marquette.
He is gaining more trust in the eyes of head coach Shaka Smart. Seven games of getting double-digit minutes is the most he has had this year. At one point, Norman had no more than two consecutive games of double-digit minutes and had a lot of single minutes of playing time.
When Tyler Kolek returns next week, Tre Norman will be the eighth man in the Marquette Golden Eagles rotation instead of being the seventh man in the rotation. He could be a sleeper player heading into the Big East Tournament and the NCAA Tournament for Marquette.
