Marquette's Tyler Kolek makes all-Big East team while Golden Eagles' Oso Ighodaro and Kam Jones on second team
Marquette point guard Tyler Kolek has started to collect accolades for his standout season.
Kolek was a unanimous selection to the six-player all-Big East team that was announced by the conference on Sunday. Kolek was joined on the squad by Connecticut's Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins, Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner, Providence's Bryce Hopkins and Xavier's Souley Boum.
MU's Oso Ighodaro and Kam Jones were named to the all-Big East second team.
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The teams were voted on by the league's coaches, who were not allowed to cast ballots for their own players. The Big East player and coach of the year will be announced on Wednesday before the conference tournament begins at Madison Square Garden in New York. Kolek and MU head coach Shaka Smart are strong candidates for those awards.
"Just trying to win games, that's all it comes down to," Kolek said earlier this week when asked about the possibility of winning individual awards. "I talked about it with a few people.
"The recognition that we've been getting wouldn't be possible – we could be averaging the same amount of stats, the same numbers across the board – and the recognition wouldn't be the same if we weren't winning games. So that's the biggest thing. That's what I try to preach to our guys every day is win, stay together, stay connected and everything will fall into place."
The league's other honors – sixth man of the year, defensive player of the year, most improved player and sportsmanship award – will be named on Monday.
Kolek has been the engine of the Golden Eagles' surprising season. He leads the conference and ranks second in the nation in assists per game at 7.9. His 3.37 assists-to-turnover ratio is fourth in the country. He also averages 12.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.
The 6-foot-3 guard has been at his best down the stretch of the season as the Golden Eagles wrapped up their first outright Big East regular-season championship. He finished with three straight double-doubles. In MU's biggest win of the season at Creighton on Feb. 21, Kolek hit two clutch baskets in the final minute. The next game against DePaul he scored 15 of the Golden Eagles' last 16 points to close out a 90-84 victory.
Ighodaro averages a team-high 5.8 rebounds per game to go with his 11.9 points. The 6-foot-10 center is also one of the best-passing big men in the country, handing out 3.3 assists per game. Ighodaro leads the Big East in field-goal percentage at 65.6.
Jones is MU's top scorer at 15.3 points per game. He has scored in double figures in 24 of MU's 31 games. He is making 2.8 three-pointers per game and is shooting 36.7% from long range.
Ighodaro and Jones were joined on the all-Big East second team by St. John's center Joel Soriano, Villanova's Eric Dixon and Xavier's Colby Jones.
MU is the top seeding in the Big East tournament and will play at 11 a.m. Central on Thursday against the winner of the St. John's-Butler matchup.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette's Tyler Kolek, Oso Ighodaro, Kam Jones earn Big East honors
