Kolek sets MU record for assists in game
Tyler Kolek came to the Marquette men’s basketball team in 2021 as an unheralded transfer from George Mason.
Three seasons later, the 6-foot-3 point guard has cemented himself as one of the all-time greats in the century-plus history of the Marquette program. There have been many honors, including Big East player of the year and third-team All-American last season.
Now, Kolek has officially etched his name in the MU history book by handing out a record 18 assists as the seventh-ranked Golden Eagles demolished DePaul, 105-71, on Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum.
His total topped the previous mark of 17 that was set by Tony Miller against Memphis in 1995.
“I’m just grateful,” Kolek said. “It’s been a long journey in basketball.
“And everything that I’ve been through leading up to this point has brought me here. I’m grateful for the Marquette community. I’m grateful for my coaches for giving me this opportunity. I’m looking to keep it going.”
Tyler Kolek piled up assists early in game
The game was never in doubt after MU (20-6, 11-4 Big East) ripped off a 24-2 run for a 31-8 lead over the Blue Demons (3-23, 0-15) early in the first half.
Kolek was piling up the assists from the jump ball, getting eight by the nine-minute mark of the first half and hitting double digits a few minutes later. He had 13 dimes at the break.
Kolek has come close to the record before, notching 15 assists against Georgetown last season. He knew where he was at as the total increased.
“It’s not like I was out there hunting them,” Kolek said. “It just happened to occur.”
Kolek kept handing out helpers in the second half. He soon tied the second-most in MU history at 16, which was reached by current Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers.
The question was how long he would play in the blowout. It looked like Kolek might be done for the night when he checked out with 14:31 remaining and MU holding a 76-38 lead. But he came back in at the 12-minute mark and, just over three minutes later, he tied Miller’s record by hitting David Joplin for a dunk on a fastbreak.
Then with 8:31 remaining, Kolek fed Kam Jones for a three-pointer that set the record.
“He said, ‘You pass it to me, I’m going to get it for you,’ “Kolek said. “That’s my guy. He plays the game with so much joy. You could see it. He hit that shot, he’s running back, he falls on the ground. It was a special moment.”
Kolek’s night was done at the next dead ball. He soaked up the applause from the crowd when public address announcer Mike Jakubowski acknowledged the record.
Kam Jones also has a career night
Kolek’s record overshadowed some other big performances for MU.
Oso Ighodaro flirted with a tripledouble with 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in 27 minutes.
Jones set his college high with 34 points on 12-for-15 shooting, including 8 three-pointers. Jones scored 31 points against Georgetown on Feb. 3.
“I told him in front of the whole team at shootaround, I said ‘I don’t care if you go 0 for 10, you’re going to come out here, you’re going to have the right spirit, you’re going to have the right energy,’ “Smart said. “Knowing that when his spirit and his energy is right, he shoots the heck out of the ball and plays really well.”
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Smart likes to say that passing is the ultimate “EGB,” the energy-generating behaviors that the head coach prizes in his program.
“Passing is an EGB, a double EGB when it’s an assist,” Smart said. “Because if I pass you the ball, it gives you energy. You’re grateful that I passed you the ball, you get a chance to score.
“Then if I make the shot, it gives me energy because I passed you the ball and it validates that I made the right play and gives me an assist.
“You can tell by watching Tyler play tonight, all year long and his whole career since he got here. He is a special player for a lot of reasons, but one of the reasons is he gets a kick out of getting his teammates shots. And he really enjoys that part of the game.”
The Golden Eagles had plenty of energy against the Blue Demons, who have lost 14 straight games and fired coach Tony Stubblefield in January.
MU had 30 assists and shot 44 for 74 (59.5%).
“Oso was passing the ball really well today,” Kolek said. “That’s just the nature of our team is to really share the ball and get others involved.
“We don’t really have a lot of isolation players. We don’t really play too much one-on-one. We cut. We pass. We move. We hit the open guy. It just shows our team as a collective is always unselfish.”
It was an ecstatic performance that MU needed after a 81-53 loss at Connecticut on Saturday.
“Our guys are really high character,” Smart said. “So I don’t really worry about them overlooking another team.
“Our vulnerability is more on the other side. We’ve got to make sure we get to the point of acceptance of whatever just happened. Because since it already happened, we can’t change it.”