MUBB Nuggets

Smart’s squad heads to Big Apple as No. 1 seed in league tourney

By John Leuzzi john.leuzzi@marquette.edu

A historic and surprising regular season is in the book for Marquette men’s basketball.

With its nail-bitting 96-94 win over St. John’s Saturday, Marquette joined the 201112 Syracuse Orange as the lone two teams in the history of the Big East conference to win 17 league games in a singular season.

Where is Marquette ranked in AP poll this week?

The Golden Eagles remained at No. 6 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

Four members earn postseason awards

Tyler Kolek, Oso Ighodaro and Kam Jones were all named to All-Big East teams Sunday afternoon.

Kolek, an unanimous selection to the All-Big East First Team, ranks amongst confer- ence leaders in five categories and tops the conference in assists per game (7.9).

Ighodaro and Jones were named to the All-Big East Second Team. Ighodaro ranks third in the league in field goal percentage (.656) while joins is second in 3-pointers per game (2.8).

Sophomore forward David Joplin was named Sixth Man of the Year Monday. He is the third Marquette player to claim the award. Davante Gardner and Andrew Rowsey previously won the award.

Next stop: MSG

For the first time since joining the Big East in 2005-06, Marquette has earned the top seed in the Big East Tournament. The Golden Eagles are 12-16 all-time in the Big East Tournament.

Marquette will play at 11 a.m. CST on Thursday at Madison Square Garden in New York against the winner of the No. 8 St. John’sNo. 9 Butler matchup.