Who is Tyler Kolek? Is he a contender for Big East Player of the Year coming from Marquette Golden Eagles?

Tyler Kolek's father won Little East Player of the Year in 1987, and the public is now wondering if his son can achieve a similar accomplishment this season, albeit in the Big East with 10th-ranked Marquette. The junior guard has become one of the country's best clutch players and has impressed coach Shaka Smart with his poise this season.

"Last year, he wasn't even in the game at crunch time here, 365 days ago," Smart said after Tuesday's 73-71 win over the 19th-ranked Creighton Bluejays. "Now, he's got the ball in his hand, he's making decisions."

The Rhode Island native finished with 18 points, six assists and four rebounds on 53.8% shooting against Creighton. His short floater with 29 seconds remaining broke a 69-69 tie and gave Marquette (22-6, 14-3 Big East) the lead for good.

The Golden Eagles have the opportunity to win the Big East outright. The success has a lot to do with Kolek's leadership and the elite stretch he has been on over the past seven games.

Kolek, who was the Atlantic-10 Conference Rookie of the Year at George Mason in 2020-21, is averaging 17.2 points, 6.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds and two steals.

His father, Kevin Kolek, was the first Little East Player of the Year in 1987 and shared the award in 1988 while starring at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, a Division III school. Kevin Kolek led the Corsairs to Little East regular-season and tournament titles in both seasons.

Tyler Kolek, Souley Boum of No. 16 Xavier, Adama Sanogo of No. 18 Connecticut and Bryce Hopkins of No. 20 Providence are among the contenders to be named the Big East Player of the Year, according to the Hartford (Conn.) Courant.

College basketball analyst Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports has been impressed with the Marquette guard's ability to lead the team through one of the tougher conferences this season.

" If you took him off Marquette, who is currrently the best team in the Big East, and put him on Villanova, he'd regularly be compared to someone like Collin Gillespie (last season's Big East Player of the Year)," Rothstein said.

The Golden Eagles control their destiny in regards to the regular-season title. If they can defeat Depaul (9-19, 3-14) at home on Saturday and Butler (14-15, 6-12) on Tuesday, they will have their first Big East title since tying for the crown in 2012-13. Marquette finishes the regular season against St. John's (17-12, 7-11) at home on March 4.

"This was a big game, but I think the next three are equally or even more important," Kolek said. "Just because we know what's on the line and (what) we have to play for. We've got to keep our razor focus like we were for this game and stay locked in for the next three."

Kolek's impressive showing against the Bluejays came against Ryan Kalkbrenner, the 2022 Big East Defensive Player of the Year and an imposing 7-foot-1 big man. He scored both of Marquette's biggest buckets at the end of the game.

The Marquette Eagles will have their hands full in the next two games. There is often not a night off in the Big East.

Be sure to check out Marquette and see if Kolek and his guys can finish the regular season with momenutm and carry that into the postseason.