The #5 Marquette Golden Eagles’ success in 2023-2024 has a lot to do with how well Tyler Kolek is playing. For the first time this season, Kolek is facing a possibility of missing time because of an oblique injury he suffered during a 91-69 win on Wednesday at home against the Providence Friars.
He scored 12 points, grabbed two rebounds, and recorded six assists against Providence. Marquette will face the #12 Creighton Blue Jays on the road on Saturday afternoon with tipoff scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CT.
Creighton is one of the best teams in the conference. Marquette this season has a 22-6 overall record and a 13-4 record in the Big East Conference. The Golden Eagles are deep, but it starts and ends with Kolek. Chase Ross, Stevie Mitchell, Kam Jones, David Joplin, and Oso Ighodaro are some of the other key players on this roster for head coach Shaka Smart.
The good news is also, they don’t rely on one player to be successful. This is why they can go deep in March.
Head Coach Shaka Smart Spoke On Radio on Thursday About Marquette Golden Eagles Superstar Tyler Kolek
On Thursday, he went onto 94.5 FM on Jen Lada’s show and said:
“He spent a lot of time today with our training staff and our doctors. He’s still being evaluated. He did injure a muscle in his oblique. I don’t really have a timetable on exactly when he’ll get back. He didn’t do anything today, practice-wise. But Tyler’s a guy, I promise you this, as soon as he’s available and he’s physically capable of coming back, he will be back. But at the same time, he tried to come back in the game after he sustained that injury. It was just too painful to play. We want to make sure we get that right for him. And right now they’re still figuring out what the right course of action is in terms of the short term.”
It sounds like that he is going to miss the Creighton game on Saturday with that response from Smart. They will also face the #3 UCONN Huskies at home next Wednesday and also the Xavier Musketeers next Saturday before the Big East Conference Tournament.
The Big East Conference Tournament is a goal of there’s. Tyler Kolek should be shut down until the start of Conference Tournament play. Seeding shouldn’t matter to them. They are talented enough to win the Big East Tournament and also make a deep run in March Madness and possibly get to the Final Four. Kolek needs to sit for the next week for precautionary reasons, but hopeful he is back for the postseason.
