MILWAUKEE — Marquette University's Tyler Kolek and Shaka Smark have been named the Big East Player and Coach of the Year!
Kolek is a junior on the men's basketball team at Marquette, coached by Smart, which is currently ranked No. 6 in the AP Top 25 College Basketball list.
The news comes after Kolek was named the Associated Press Big East Player of the Year and Smart was named AP's Big East Coach of the Year.
Player. Of. The Year.
— BIG EAST MBB (@BIGEASTMBB) March 8, 2023
Tyler Kolek of @MarquetteMBB is HIM. pic.twitter.com/1SuVEyd0Is
This season, Kolek has played in 31 games, averaging 32 minutes a game. His field goal percentage is 48.8% and he has a 3-point percentage of 39.6%.
He will be entering the Big East Tournament this week at New York's Madison Square Garden off three straight double-doubles, averaging 20.3 points and 11.3 assists in those games. His 7.9 assists per game for the season leads the Big East and is second nationally.
Smart is in his second season with Marquette and just led the Golden Eagles to its first-ever Big East Conference win. This year, Marquette had a school-record 17 conference wins and its highest national ranking since 1978.
According to the Associated Press, Marquette beat every league team at least once for the first time since it joined the league in 2005-06.
He led @MarquetteMBB to its first outright regular season #BIGEASThoops title - @CoachShakaSmart is your BIG EAST Coach of the Year! pic.twitter.com/DkOnZQ1KUC
— BIG EAST MBB (@BIGEASTMBB) March 8, 2023
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