Marquette opened its season against Mercyhurst on Nov. 3 at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the first answer for fans was not a channel on the regular lineup. The game was streamed on +, with Josh Mauer and Jerel McNeal on the call.
That mattered because this was the first game of the season, and the broadcast setup decided how people could watch it that night. The game was also carried on radio at 94.5 FM through Milwaukee and online via The Varsity Network, giving fans more than one way in even as traditional television was left out.
The numbers around the matchup fit the same lopsided shape. FanDuel made Marquette a 31.5-point favorite, while KenPom.com gave the Golden Eagles a 99% chance of victory and projected an 87-61 finish. KenPom also assigned the game a Thrill Score of 10.0, which placed it 91st among 118 Division I contests on the day.
That ranking underlined the split between expected competitiveness and national viewing priority. Purdue vs Gonzaga in Las Vegas carried the top KenPom Thrill Score for the day at 83.9, and that helped explain why Marquette’s opener landed on a streaming platform instead of traditional TV even though the game could still be watched on a television through +.
The post also pointed to a broader pattern for the season. It said Marquette home games against Mercyhurst, Northern Illinois, Chicago State, Wagner and New Hampshire would be on +, and that the Detroit Mercy game at the McGuire Center would require an + subscription unless the viewer was a Marquette student. For fans, the message was simple: this was not just a one-night setup, but the way several early home dates would be handled.
