Oso Ighodaro and Tyler Kolek found their way to the NBA after successful tenure with the Marquette Golden Eagles.
They are a source of inspiration for each other. Except when they are on the opposite sides.
Marquette fans are always excited to know how their former hardcourt heroes are doing after college and Ighodaro complied when he visited the school to receive his McCahill Award for his outstanding season with them in 2024.
He is back more than half a year since becoming an NBA player together with Kolek. The former was picked 40th overall by the Portland Trailblazers but was immediately traded to the Phoenix Suns where he is slowly but surely earning his minutes.
As for Kolek, he is currently splitting his time between the New York Knicks and their G-League affiliate Westchester.
They are playing in different NBA conferences but in the rare time they shared the same court, they made it hard for each other to get serious.
Marquette Golden Eagles’ NBA rookies are unserious
Ighodaro and Kolek shared the court many times in three seasons with the Golden Eagles but on November 20 last year, they shared it again but on opposite sides.
Naturally, they should find it weird that they are now opponents.
For Oso, it was a funny moment but it is more because of Kolek’s attempt to make him laugh in what should be a serious moment for rookies like them.
“It was definitely funny,” Ighodaro told reporters on Tuesday.
“Even in warmups, he was trying to look at me and I was trying not to look at him, I was trying to be locked in. Then, we ended up being on the floor at the same time and he was talking to me of course, you know how Tyler is. I was trying to avoid interacting with him so I could be locked in because we were losing. He was trying to make me laugh.”
Ighodaro played just 14 minutes in that game and scored 2 points. His team lost by 16 points.
Kolek for his part earned 11 minutes of burn time and hit one three point shot.
The Suns and the Knicks will face each other again on April 6 at the Madison Square Garden.
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