Tyler Kolek has had his fingerprints all over this winning streak for the Marquette Golden Eagles. Once again on Tuesday night against the Butler Bulldogs, he scored 27 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and recorded five assists in a 78-72 win for Marquette over Butler.
With the win, the Golden Eagles have now won eight consecutive games and they improved to 19-5 overall on the season and 10-3 in BIG East Conference play. As for the Butler Bulldogs, they drop to 16-9 on the season and 7-7 in BIG East Conference play.
In this game, Kolek is now second-all time in Marquette history in assists with 635. Tony Miller is the all-time leader in assists for the Marquette Golden Eagles.
Oso Ighodaro recorded another double-double for Marquette with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists. He spoke to Ben Steele of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the game was over about the way Kolek performed by saying:
“Tyler’s a really good player. I trust him. He trusts me. We’ve done it so many times, I think that’s why it works. We just keep going back to it.”
Kam Jones was the other double-digit scorer in this basketball game for the Golden Eagles with 11 points. Head coach Shaka Smart is pleased with the way his team played against Butler because the Bulldogs beat them in the last meeting.
This was huge for the Golden Eagles because they next face the UCONN Huskies on the road on Saturday and they are currently the number one ranked team in the country.
Butler Bulldogs Have Four Players Score in Double Figures Against the Marquette Golden Eagles and Tyler Kolek
In the second matchup between these two teams, Butler played Marquette tough and almost swept the season series for Thad Matta’s squad. Finley Bizjack led the way for the Bulldogs with 19 points. Pierre Brooks II scored 15 points, grabbed six rebounds, and recorded one assist for the Butler Bulldogs.
Jahmyl Telfort scored 12 points and Jalen Thomas also added 11 points for Butler. This is a team that could make the NCAA Tournament this season and time will tell for them for the rest of the season how it goes in the BIG East Conference.
The Golden Eagles were ready to go from the start and so was their best player Tyler Kolek. This is why Marquette is in play for one of the number-one seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Assuming the UCONN Huskies beat the DePaul Blue Demons on Wednesday, the Huskies await their biggest challengers in the Big East Conference.
