NC State has had all the answers in postseason play, but what about for Marquette?

DALLAS — Is this when N.C. State’s comes to the end of the road?

In Dallas? Against Marquette, in the semifinals of the NCAA South Region at American Airlines Center?

More specifically, is this the game the Wolfpack — after winning seven straight games, after winning an ACC championship, after emerging as a national story, after turning D.J. Burns into something of a 6-foot-9, 300-pound folk hero — runs into someone who is capable of ending its NCAA Tournament and season?

Someone like Tyler Kolek of Marquette?

The junior guard isn’t the type likely to reel out a 30-point game by nailing 3-pointers from everywhere, although he did score 32 against Villanova this season. He is, however, capable of a 21-point, 11-assist, five-rebound kind of game that fully displays his versatility and his impact on a game.

That’s what Kolek had in Marquette’s 81-77 win over Colorado in the second round of the NCAA’s last week, when the Golden Eagles (27-9) shot a season-best 61.8% from the field. He has the ball in his hands a lot, knows what to do with it, plus has a high degree of competitiveness and pugnacity to go with his basketball skills.

During a Thursday player interview session, Kolek sat with arms crossed and his game face on, as if defiant and ready for the fight to begin.

Kolek leads NCAA Division I in assists with 7.9 a game. He had 18 in a game this season, against DePaul, and has teamed with junior Kam Jones to form a terrific backcourt for Marquette coach Shaka Smart.

An oblique injury, extremely painful for any athlete and often slow to heal, kept him out of games late in the regular season and then — against his will — the Big East Conference tournament. He said at first he had a hard time getting out of bed or in and out of cars.

But Kolek, 23, showed in the first two rounds of the NCAAs that he is running the offense and that to stop the Golden Eagles, seeded No. 2 in the South Region, a team must find the answer for him.

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