Tyler Kolek was a man set on a mission on Thursday night for the Marquette Golden Eagles against the DePaul Blue Demons. Kolek set a Marquette game record of 18 assists in a 105-71 win at home over DePaul.
He wanted to get his teammates involved from the opening tipoff. It was very strange that Kolek only scored three points and they won the game easily. He also grabbed one rebound in the game against DePaul.
According to OptaStats, there is no other Division 1 basketball player in the last 25 years who had +18 assists in a game with playing under 27 minutes. In the game against DePaul, he played for 26 minutes and 42 seconds.
Kam Jones was the leading scorer on the night for the Golden Eagles with 34 points. He also grabbed one rebound and recorded two assists. Oso Ighodaro scored 15 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and recorded seven assists for the Marquette Golden Eagles.
There were three other players in the game who scored in double digits for Marquette. David Joplin scored 14 points, Chase Ross scored 13 points, and Stevie Mitchell also added 11 points and four rebounds.
Head coach Shaka Smart is pleased that they were focused from the opening tipoff against the DePaul Blue Demons. With the win, Marquette improves to 20-6 overall on the season and to 11-4 in BIG East Conference play.
DePaul Blue Demons Have Four Players Score In Double Figures Against Tyler Kolek and the Marquette Golden Eagles
DePaul didn’t have much of a chance to do anything from the opening jump against Tyler Kolek and the Marquette Golden Eagles. Kolek did whatever he wanted against a horrendous Blue Demons. Despite that, DePaul did have four players score in double figures on Wednesday night against Marquette.
Elijah Fisher and Jaden Henley each scored 19 points in this game against the Golden Eagles. Chico Carter Jr. and Keyondre Young each scored 10 points. Henley had the most rebounds for the DePaul Blue Demons with five. Matt Brady is still looking for his first win as interim head coach with the program.
With the loss, DePaul drops to 3-23 on the season and to 0-15 in Big East Conference play. The Golden Eagles took this game seriously as if the DePaul Blue Demons were a good basketball team. This dominant performance in the passing game by Tyler Kolek was much needed after being embarrassed on the road against the #1 UCONN Huskies this past Saturday.
Marquette will not play again until Sunday afternoon against the Xavier Musketeers. That game will tip off at 4 p.m. CT.