How good was Cumberland's Tyler Kolek's first weekend back in action? Historically good

Tyler Kolek’s first weekend of the NCAA Tournament found him in the same statistical neighborhood as Jason Kidd, Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson.

His performances for Marquette in victories over Western Kentucky and Colorado stack up against those of some of the greatest point guards who have ever played men’s college basketball — and beyond.

The Golden Eagles are through to the Sweet 16 and will battle North Carolina State in a 7:09 p.m. tip Friday night. Kolek and his teammates head to Dallas with a strong chance to reach a fourth Final Four in program history and a first since Dwyane Wade emerged as a star in 2003.

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“We know what's at stake,” Kolek said after the win against the Buffaloes. “This isn't a time to be joking around.

“I'm a serious guy as it is. I like to have fun, but when it comes to crunch time, you've got to be serious. It's win or go home. That's all it is.”

Kolek finished with 18 points, six rebounds and 11 assists in an 87-69 win over the Hilltoppers. He added 21 points, five rebounds and 11 assists in an 81-77 thriller against the Buffaloes. Those two final lines put Kolek alongside some prestigious company in the sport’s record books.

Kidd was the last player to post consecutive March Madness games of at least 10 points, at least five rebounds and at least 10 assists. That was with California in 1993, a Sweet 16 run that included an upset of Duke in the second round. Kidd was the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and went on to become a 10-time All-Star in the NBA.

Johnson and Robertson were the only two previous players to rack up at least 18 points, at least five rebounds and at least 11 assists twice in the same NCAA Tournament. Johnson did the honors with Michigan State on the way to a famous national title win over Indiana State and Larry Bird in 1979. Roberston started a run of five straight Final Four appearances at Cincinnati, reaching those marks in both the 1959 and 1960 editions of the event.

"Guys do a great job spacing off me, playing off me, and I find them in their spots,” Kolek said. “They make the plays. I'm grateful for them.”

Kolek missed six straight games prior to taking the floor against Western Kentucky. That included all of the Big East Tournament, as Marquette battled its way to the final before losing to Connecticut. Kolek was recovering from an oblique injury he sustained in a home blowout of Providence on Feb. 28.

“I'm not really feeling anything when I'm playing right now, which is a good thing, knock on wood,” Kolek said. “But even if I was, I'd still be playing through it. That's just the nature of who I am.”

Kolek came out of the blocks with 38 minutes against the Hilltoppers, going 7-for-13 from the field and notching two steals. He closed 10-for-14 from the field against Colorado, including a hook shot in the lane with 54.2 seconds left that helped close it out. Kolek dribbled along the left baseline, curled out into the paint and floated one over Buffaloes big man Eddie Lampkin Jr. to increase what was just a 77-76 edge.

“The whole time they've been telling me to keep my dribble along the baseline,” Kolek said. “I was kind of getting stuck down there a little bit — not so much today.”

You might have imagined a younger version of Kolek trying a shot like that out of necessity in the driveway of his Cumberland home. His father, Kevin, and older brother, Brandon, aren’t the type of competitors who would have taken it easy on him. That background led in part to this — the nation’s third best assist rate at 42.7% of possessions and 2-point shooting that climbed from 50.9% last season to 55.0% this year.

“I knew I was coming back,” Kolek said. “I knew what I was playing for.”

bkoch@providencejournal.com

On X: @BillKoch25

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Cumberland's Tyler Kolek in great company in return to NCAA tourney play