In the offseason, I made a comment that if Royce Parham were listed as a transfer instead of a returner, the buzz nationally about him would be significantly higher.
You had a recruit right at the border of the top-100 in the 247 composite that made a power conference all-freshman team, got invited to a Team USA youth camp/tryout and put up the highest BPR for an MU freshman under Shaka, 54% ahead of the previous 2nd best player.
Ignore Oso and OMax below, who were listed as freshman in 2022 despite being sophomores, but the number of true freshman able to crack 30% of minutes played under Shaka has been extremely short. It was just Kam and Chase prior to this season. But it has always been a sign of great things to come.
And then the season started and he just wasn’t very good. Marquette had a myriad of problems, I’m not saying the nonconference results were his fault, but Parham not only had not taken a leap, the eye test and metrics both told us he had actually taken a step back.
Offensive rating? Down from 109 in 2025 to 103.3.
Minutes? Up from 36.8 to 53.2, but nowhere near the level projected, and 0 starts to that point.
3pt%? Down from 28% to 25%.
2pt%? Down from 58% to 55.1%.
BPR? Down from 2.3 to 0.85.
Not matter how you sliced it, Royce looked like a worse player than the promising rookie we saw in 2025. And when you pulled back and saw the team results, it made it that much worse. This team had a gaping need for an interior presence, and Royce couldn’t come close to filling it.
Opportunity
Before we can continue on, I think it’s vital to recount the final moments of the 2025 season. After losing to New Mexico in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament, I tagged along with Milwaukee Journal Sentinel beat writer Ben Steele to interview some players in the Marquette locker room.
It had been 13 years since I last did player interviews, and that was after a euphoric win vs Murray State in the Round of 32. So needless to say, I was not prepared for the scene before me. It was just despondent players either crying in silence or going around consoling others. I didn’t have a real angle, so felt extremely awkward interrupting the grieving process, until I found Royce, looking relatively composed.
I asked him a bit about the game, a bit about the seniors and then a bit more about his future. Considering the scene, he was almost excited to talk about next year, and in particular about getting to play the 4 instead of the 5. In 2025, he was almost exclusively matched up against Big East 5s, which wasn’t the ideal position for him on either end of the floor.
With 2 true big men in Josh Clark and Caedin Hamilton notching another year of experience, plus Ben Gold’s return, Royce would be freed up to spend a lot more time as a 4, and not as a bruiser defending players with 30 to 40 pounds on him. He was excited and that made me excited.
And yet, while he indeed was playing the 4 significantly more than the 5 this season, as imagined, the results both from a team and individual perspective, as noted above, were less than exemplary.
Growth
And then the switch clicked. I’m not sure if we can pinpoint the exact game or play or cause, but seeing as he made his first start on the first game of conference play, that gives us a nice clean cutoff for analysis.
I would tell you which row corresponds with which period, but I think you will be able to tell pretty easily.
There are like 6 eye-popping stats in there, but the biggest one by far, in my opinion, is the minutes played.
In the nonconference portion of the season, Royce was averaging 21 minutes a game, enough to make an impact, but not a load that we’d see from a top-tier player. Since Big East play started, Royce has played in 81% of Marquette’s minutes, almost 33 a game. That kind of in-season change in playing time is extremely rare outside of injury. Parham has transformed from a 6th man-type role to a key cog in the blink of an eye.
And in response to that additional responsibility, he’s turned into a beast inside the arc.
Parham is shooting almost 65% from 2s in Big East play, in large part due to a huge increase in shots at the rim. In conference play, 86% of his shots are near the rim (Close 2s) and he’s hitting 69.1% of those. Again, you sometimes see these kinds of numbers fade in conference play without cupcakes composing 40-50% of opponents, but it’s the opposite for Royce.
And to me, it’s not just that he’s making more shots, the way he’s creating those opportunities has been eye opening. Watch the video below and see the way he’s able to use his quickness and power to spin into dunks.
And then against Seton Hall, watch how diverse his off ball movement has become, and the quality of shot attempt he’s able to get using it.
If you haven’t clicked play, I promise it’s worth it, even for the first clip, which is just 3 seconds long. The way he’s able to use his basketball IQ and speed to completely juke that Seton Hall defender out of his shoes for an easy putback 2 shows us Parham is growing in the way he’s processing the game.
And with the game on the line, Parham is getting plenty of touches. His team trusts him. And he is delivering.
Parham got mauled in the head on the first miss, but remains composed and cleans up the rebound before going up strong again and finishing through another foul to tie the game with under 2 minutes left.
And I get it it’s easy to find a clip or a stat to make a player look good, but this isn’t a case of retrofitting evidence to fill a predetermined theory. This is seeing an in-season leap we have rarely seen from a Marquette player, and trying to break down the reasons for it.
One last graphic. Here is how Hoop-Explorer categorizes offensive play types, with the taller a bar the more frequent it is used compared to D1 averages, the greener the more efficient, and the number per 100 possessions circled. Parham has basically traded pick and pop 3 for perimeter cuts compared to Big East play last season.
This is the Royce that is a game changer.
Area for Improvement
And what may be the most important point of this endeavor, Parham is still a below average 3-point shooter. No, that’s not exactly a positive, but it highlights that this surge isn’t powered by unsustainable shooting. It is a variety of shot types and drives, all predicated on Parham learning to use his quickness and power to his advantage close to the rim, and a team that is regularly finding him when he does so.
Where I am also heartened is in his decrease in 3 pointers taken, down almost 50% from the non-con in terms of 3s per 100 possessions. He isn’t settling as much.
In the noncon, 60% of his spot-up 3s were in closely guarded possessions. In Big East play, that’s down to 47%. He is settling for the deep ball less, and punishing opponents inside much more. You love to see it.
Still, the long range shooting isn’t great, and the free throw percentage is down to 57% in conference play. He isn’t yet a good shooter, but you want him to be better than that, and I think he can be.
Similarly, while Marquette’s team offense has taken off the last few weeks, it had come at the expense of the defense. As Parham has averaged nearly 37 minutes per game in that stretch, it’s not unfair to say Marquette loses a bit on defense with Parham in. Advanced metrics like DBPR and DRAPM grade Parham as a barely above average defender, so not a negative per se, but his impact is felt primarily on the offensive end.
Don’t let these areas of improvement dampen the excitement of his growth. I know I’m not. He has stepped his game up to a level where I’m upset the few minutes he comes off the court.
The Royce leap is real, and it’s spectacular.
Make a one-time donation
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
Donate
Paint Touches 
the proverbial lightbulb went on! I’d wager he has as many dunks as 3’s attempted during BE play which is awesome. Hard to believe he didn’t start the season at the four spot. Still one of the great mysteries of the season. Time to spend the summer shooting free throws. I expect him to be on the stripe regularly for the next (hopefully) two years
With the recent play of Owen’s it look like we have a strong freshman and sophomore class to build on.