college basketball<\/a> season. Unanswered questions continue to linger.<\/p>\nWho is Zaide Lowery?<\/p>\n
A former four-star recruit, Lowery committed to Marquette in the Class of 2023 out of Kickapoo High School in Missouri and La Lumiere School in Indiana. He chose to play for head coach Shaka Smart over Kansas State and Missouri State.<\/p>\n
His first two seasons were neither good nor bad. Lowery averaged 1.6 points and 1.4 rebounds in 9.5 minutes as a freshman and 4.1 points and 3.0 rebounds in 15.8 minutes as a sophomore.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This was supposed to be his breakout year.<\/p>\n
Lowery started the first nine games of the 2025-26 season. The Golden Eagles lost games to Indiana, Maryland, Dayton and Oklahoma. He got benched in favor of freshman Adrien Stevens in a loss to Wisconsin on Dec. 6 and played only 12 minutes in a loss to Purdue on Dec. 13.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when it got weird. Lowery did not come off of the bench at all in a loss to Georgetown on Dec. 17 to open Big East Play. Nor did he play against Creighton on Dec. 20.<\/p>\n
In fact, he didn\u2019t even travel with the team to Omaha. Marquette cited \u201cpersonal reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
He is no longer a member of the Marquette basketball team.<\/p>\n
It was announced on late Sunday night that Zaide Lowery will not return to the program for the second academic semester in 2026. He is no longer part of the team.<\/p>\n
Lowery averaged 8.1 points and 2.9 rebounds this season amid the bizarre lineup drama. The reason for his sudden disappearance is unclear.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to thank Zaide for his many contributions to our program over the last two and a half years,\u201d coach Shaka Smart said in a statement released by the school. \u201cWe wish him the best in all of his future pursuits on and off the court.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the only information provided, which allowed for speculation to run wild. A user on X made the following claim about Lowery\u2019s exit:<\/p>\n
\u201cTough news to share: Zaide Lowery will not return for the second semester after being dismissed from the team by Shaka Smart following an altercation with assistant coach Cody Hatt,\u201d wrote @Whitesoxbill.<\/p>\n
The official team account for Marquette<\/a> disputed this account of what happened.<\/p>\n\u201cThe information regarding the altercation is inaccurate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hm. That does not provide much clarity on why Lowery was removed from the roster.<\/p>\n
The team account referred to the alleged altercation as the altercation, which seems to imply there was in fact an altercation. Either that, or the post is poorly worded. No further information has been provided.<\/p>\n
There is a theory that this post from the Golden Eagles is just damage control. Other people who claim ties to the program allege the altercation actually involved Smart and not the assistant. We don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
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![\"Zaide](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/why-did-zaide-lowery-leave-marquette-fight-coach-kicked-off-basketball-team.jpg\")
iStockphoto \/ \u00a9 Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n