Something wasn't right with the Marquette men's basketball team, starting with Tyler Kolek.

Shots weren't falling, that was obvious. But even 15-for-59 three-point shooting for the team over the Golden Eagles' two-game losing streak didn't explain everything.

The vibes were just off with a team that had been ranked in the top 10 for most of the season.

So the Golden Eagles' brain trust of Kolek, Oso Ighodaro, Kam Jones and Stevie Mitchell decided to put their heads together and figure it out.

"Talked through some things and looked each other in the eye," MU head coach Shaka Smart said.

That meeting came the day after MU lost to Butler, 69-62, on Jan. 10 to end a 20-game winning streak at Fiserv Forum. The players were together for an event at Children's Wisconsin, part of their work for the school's NIL collective, and decided to stop at Chick-fil-A to hash out their issues over some waffle fries.

“It was more so just getting on the same page," Kolek said. "Getting back connected. We talked about the coaches are the coaches, but we’re the ones out on the floor.

"We got to be the ones most connected with each other. We have to be the ones most on the same page. Whether it’s some coverage we want to do on defense or some play we want to run on offense."

It seems to have worked. The 14th-ranked Golden Eagles (13-5, 4-3 Big East) have snapped out of their funk to win back-to-back games, and they look to keep it going against DePaul (3-15, 0-7) at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Chicago.

The biggest reason for the turnaround is that Kolek is playing like Kolek again. The preseason All-American point guard and reigning Big East player of the year knew something else had to change besides what was happening on the court.

"It wasn’t just that," Kolek said. "But me personally, I really felt that I needed to bring myself more into … not into the leadership role but just trying to immerse myself into the guys.

"Because I feel like I was too inward in a couple of games we lost on the road. Caught up in myself a little bit. So trying to get back connected with those guys. Get back connected to Coach. It’s really helped."

Tyler Kolek back to being a lightning rod

The connectivity has returned. Kolek registered 11 assists in each of MU's back-to-back victories over Villanova and St. John's.

Kolek getting back to himself also means doing the things that enrage opposing fan bases. Chirping at the crowd. Keeping a running dialogue with the guy who is guarding him.

"That’s the thing we talked about a lot, too," Kolek said. "I need to be that (expletive). I need to be that cocky (expletive).

"Because it gives the rest of the guys an edge and the chip on their shoulder. That’s my thing. If I can help them with that and give them a little piece of that, it helps everybody."

In the consecutive losses against Seton Hall and Butler, Kolek shot 2 for 19, including 1 of 10 on three-pointers. After a hot start to the season from long distance – he shot 43.5% on his 39 three-point attempts in non-conference games – it looked as though Kolek was regressing to the 28.1% three-point shooter from his first season at MU in 2021-22.

But Kolek said he remains confident. He is 2 for 8 on threes over the last two games.

“I’ve gone through struggles before," Kolek said. "My thing is if I’m shooting them, I’m good.

"If you see me start to hesitate and second-guess myself, that’s when the mental stuff is coming in. As long as I’m shooting them, I’m good."

Shaka Smart riding his star point guard

Kolek is adjusting to a heavier workload with backup Sean Jones out for the season with a knee injury. Kolek played 38 minutes against Villanova and then 39 at St. John's.

Fatigue could have been a factor in Kolek missing three free throws in the final 2:05 against the Red Storm that allowed St. John's to make a frantic comeback that came up just short. Kolek had missed only three free throws in the Golden Eagles' previous 17 games, a span in which he went 46 for 49.

Smart has joked that the 22-year-old gym rat "doesn't necessarily have a young man's body," so the MU coach wants to be careful with his star guard.

“There was a couple times I really wanted to take him out," Smart said after the win over St. John's. "But it didn’t make sense to take him out in that moment.

"So it’s like you want to get him more breaks. But we need to find 30 seconds here, 30 seconds there, because it’s asking a lot.”

Kolek, of course, always wants to be on the court.

"I’m feeling good," he said. "Just got to be ready to go every single night and do whatever the team needs me to do. If that’s the full 40 minutes, then that’s what I got to do.

"Coach asked me if I needed a break, but I know we’re better when I’m on the floor. So if I got to stay out there the full 40 minutes, then I will. I trained for this. I trained for this all summer, all fall. My body’s ready for it.”

'It will pay off for us on the back end'

The Golden Eagles need Kolek at his best if they want to reach their lofty goals this season. MU rolled to a 17-3 record in the Big East last season and then won the conference tournament. But the Golden Eagles lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament with Kolek nursing a thumb injury.

Kolek thinks that going through rough patches like the two-game skid could be beneficial to MU.

"Last year we won the most league games in history," Kolek said. "So, obviously, it was never going to be that pretty (this season).

"It was a fantastic season, a miracle season, but ultimately we didn’t do what we wanted to do in the end. But I think if we can go through some adversity now, it will pay off for us on the back end when we want to be playing our best basketball in March.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tyler Kolek helps Marquette basketball break two-game losing skid