Kam Jones, Tyler Kolek lead No. 9 Marquette over Georgetown 91-57 for 6th straight win
WASHINGTON (AP) — Kam Jones scored a career-high 31 points, Tyler Kolek had 17 points and eight assists and No. 9 Marquette won its sixth straight game, 91-57 over Georgetown on Saturday.
Jones, Marquette’s third-leading scorer at 13.1 points per game, returned after missing Tuesday’s 85-80 win at Villanova with a sore right ankle. He shot 12 for 15 from the field, including 7 for 9 from 3-point distance.
“We didn’t even know if Kam was going to play going into the game,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. “We did walk through this morning and he wasn’t even in the starting lineup.”
Jones, a 34 % shooter from deep this season, had been in a slump — shooting 9 of 34 (26 %) — over the six games prior to sitting out.
“We’re just a different team when he’s clicking like that,” Smart said.
Kolek, the player of the year last season in the Big East, had 15 points and six assists in the first half as the Golden Eagles went on a 16-0 run midway through the half, turning an 18-14 lead into a 34-14 advantage.
David Joplin scored 15 points and Oso Ighodaro added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Marquette (17-5, 8-3 Big East) forced 19 turnovers and outscored the Hoyas 35-5 in points off turnovers.
Rowan Brumbaugh scored 12 points to lead Georgetown (8-13, 1-9), which lost its sixth straight game. The 34-point loss is the largest home Big East defeat for the Hoyas.
Georgetown’s Jayden Epps entered the game as the leading scorer in the conference at 19.1 points per game, but was held without a field goal until just under seven minutes left. Epps finished with seven points.
Marquette has won six straight overall against the Hoyas and the last seven in Washington. The Golden Eagles shot 14 for 31 from long distance and led by as many as 42 points. Marquette won the season’s first meeting, 81-51 on Dec. 22.
BIG PICTURE
Marquette: With No. 13 Creighton’s loss to Butler on Friday night, the Golden Eagles sit alone in second place in the Big East at 8-3, two games behind top ranked UConn (10-1), which beat St. John’s 77-64 Saturday. Marquette and Connecticut meet for the first time this season on Feb. 17 in Hartford.
Georgetown: The Hoyas have lost 16 straight games against Top 25 teams since winning the 2021 Big East Championship game.
SCOREBOARD WATCHING
Jones admitted after the game that while he was aware of his previous career-high of 26, he wasn’t hunting it until the very last shot.
“Honestly I didn’t look at the board,” Jones said about nearing his high. “The only play I would say I was really chasing it was the two that got me to 31.”
Jones' layup with 5:45 remaining pushed the Golden Eagles' lead to 83-41. He, along with the other starters, exited the game for good at the next dead ball.
DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY
After another lopsided home defeat, Georgetown coach Ed Cooley admitted that he knows things would be tough in his first season, and he was right.
“I knew coming in that this would be the hardest challenge I’ve had as a head coach,” Cooley said.
In 17 combined seasons as a head coach at Providence and Fairfield, Cooley’s longest losing streak was six games, and it came during the 2007-08 season with the Stags. He has already matched it after 21 games at Georgetown. Cooley’s longest previous Big East losing streak, before this current slide, was five games during the 2011-12 season.
UP NEXT
Marquette: Has the week off before hosting St. John’s on Saturday.
Georgetown: At Seton Hall on Wednesday.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
