Who should NC State be concerned with in the Sweet 16 matchup with Marquette?

NC State and DJ Burns have been one of the most entertaining teams to watch the past week and a half. It all started during the ACC Tournament when the Wolfpack won five games in five days as an 11-seed, upsetting Syracuse, Duke, Virginia, and North Carolina to win the tournament and receive the ACC automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Now the Wolfpack find themselves in the Sweet 16 getting ready to face 2-seed Marquette.

Marquette had a bit of an easier road to the NCAA Tournament apart of a good Big East conference, coming in second only to who a lot of people say is the best team in the country, UConn. The Golden Eagles went 2-2 in their final four games of the regular season but got their star senior guard Tyler Kolek back just in time for the NCAA Tournament.

Now it is pretty obvious who other teams have to be concerned about when it comes to NC State and that is DJ Burns. Burns has been unstoppable in the paint and a problem for every team they have faced during this winning streak. However, Marquette is going to be NC State's toughest matchup yet in this tournament and they have who I mentioned earlier to worry about.

Kolek came back from an oblique injury that he suffered at the beginning of March that took him out for the rest of the regular season and the Big East Tournament. His first game back was the Golden Eagles' first round matchup against Western Kentucky.

In the first two games of the tournament, a total of 39 points, 18 against Western Kentucky and 21 against Colorado. He has also been efficient in assisting his teams with 11 assists in each game and 11 rebounds in total from both games.

Kolek was the catalyst for the Golden Eagles in their narrow win over 10-seed Colorado. Kolek made the assist for Chase Ross for the three-point shot that put Marquette up by three with a little under three minutes. He also hit a jumper with about 50 seconds left to put the Golden Eagles up by three forcing Colorado to begin fouling.

NC State is going to need to keep tabs on Kolek and try to shut him down to help thier chances at moving on to the Elite Eight. He is going to make plays for other players, but if you can limit his scoring, the Wolfpack could minimize the damage.

Kolek is looking stronger since coming back from his injury and if NC State can't stop him in their Sweet 16 matchup, their Cinderella run could be over.