The previous time Marquette men’s basketball played DePaul, David Joplin started the victory with a 3-pointer. Wednesday, it was deja vu as he scored the first points of the game with again, a 3-pointer.
Joplin got the ball rolling for what turned into a dominant No. 7 Golden Eagles 105-71 win over DePaul at Fiserv Forum, a bounce back after their earlier loss at No. 1 UConn Saturday.
Here’s three takeaways from the victory:
Kolek sets new single-game assists record
Senior guard Tyler Kolek handed out a then-career high 15 assists against Georgetown last season. At halftime Wednesday night, he had 13 — three away from beating his personal-best, and five from surpassing the program’s all-time assist record.
“I’ve known the number,” Kolek said. “I was close last year in a couple of games. At that point it’s like let’s go for it.”
With 9:54 left in the second half, a Kolek bounce pass which led to a David Joplin dunk got him to 17 assists — tying the number Tony Miller earned in 1995.
And a minute later, he inbounded to Kam Jones who sunk a 3-pointer, breaking the program record with his 18th and sealing his Marquette legacy.
“He is a special player for a lot of ways, but one of the reasons is he gets a kick out of getting him teammates shots and he really enjoys that part of the game,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart said.
Marquette plays suffocating defense
The Blue Demons didn’t lead for one second of the 40-minute game, in part due to the Golden Eagles’ strong defensive front.
Marquette held DePaul to shoot 40.7% from the field and 25% from the 3-point line. The Golden Eagles also forced the Blue Demons to commit 22 turnovers, which resulted in 32 points.
Junior guard Stevie Mitchell led everyone with five steals, and sophomore guard Chase Ross finished right behind with three.
“Stevie Mitchell deserves a lot of credit for what he did defensively,” Smart said. “Chico Carter’s a good player. He’s a high value player. Stevie held him 3-for-16 from the field, which is huge.”
Marquette also earned a season-most 53 deflections.
“It’s just for us a great way to get back to how we want to play,” Smart said.
Bench representation
The game turned ugly quickly, as Marquette held a 59-29 lead at halftime. The Golden Eagles’ extensive lead meant more playing time for the bench.
Ross (20) and fellow sophomore Ben Gold (15) saw the court for a combined 35 minutes. First-years Tre Norman and Zaide Lowery played 16 and 13 minutes respectively, something Smart was happy to see.
“Those guys every minute that they can get in a real college game is extremely valuable,” Smart said. “And you know I see those guys making a lot of strides. Tre had a couple of really nice drives.”
This article was written by Sofie Hanrahan. She can be reached at sofia.hanrahan@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @SofieHanrahanMU.