The only suspenseful part of Marquette's blowout victory over slumping DePaul was whether Tyler Kolek would stay on the court long enough to break the Golden Eagles' 29-year-old single-game record for assists.
Kolek achieved it with plenty of time to spare.
The reigning Big East Player of the Year had 18 assists, Kam Jones scored a career-high 34 points, and No. 7 Marquette rebounded from its most lopsided loss with a runaway 105-71 win on Wednesday night. .
Tony Miller set the previous school record with 17 assists against Memphis on March 4, 1995. Kolek came close to that mark a couple of times last season and knew he had a chance Wednesday after tallying 10 assists in the first 12 minutes. and 13 at halftime.
“My teammates tell me that,” Kolek said. “I see it too. And then, in that moment, it's like, 'Let's go for it.'”
Marquette (20-6, 11-4 Big East) was back in form four nights after an 81-53 loss at No. 1 UConn that snapped the Golden Eagles' eight-game winning streak. DePaul (3-23, 0-15) has lost 15 in a row by an average margin of 24.1 points.
Kolek achieved his record by committing only two turnovers. He attempted only two shots and finished with three points.
“Watching Tyler play tonight and all year and his entire career since he got here, you could say he's a special player in a lot of ways, but one of the reasons is he enjoys giving his teammates shots.”, Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. “He really enjoys that part of the game.”
Kolek tied the record by finding David Joplin for a dunk that gave Marquette an 89-48 lead with 9:54 left. Kolek got his 18th assist on an inbounds pass to Jones, who hit a 3-pointer that made the score 95-52 with 8:31 left.
Jones' basket also allowed him to surpass his previous career scoring high of 31, which came in a 91-57 win at Georgetown on Feb. 3. Jones was 12 of 15 overall and made 8 of 10 three-point attempts.
Kolek and Jones left the game for good with just over eight minutes left.
Oso Ighodaro added 15 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists for Marquette, which shot 59.5% from the floor as a team.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this article.
