Under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden, Harlem native Markquis Nowell put on a March Madness performance for the ages to lead his Kansas State squad into the Elite Eight.
Nowell set an NCAA Tournament record with 19 assists in the thrilling win over Michigan State in Thursday’s Sweet 16 battle, to go along with his 20 points, five steals, and three rebounds.
Of the 19 assists, none was flashier than the play he pulled off with the help of Wildcats head coach in the final minute of overtime. As Nowell brought the ball up the floor with 1:06 left on the clock and the score tied at 92 apiece, the 5-foot-8 point guard yelled “watch this” to courtside fans rooting for the Spartans, then got into a staged disagreement with head coach Jerome Tang as the two pretended to feud over which offensive set to run. It was all a mirage, as Nowell broke character and flipped a dime to a cutting Keyontae Johnson for a perfect alley-oop lob from just beyond halfcourt.
The flashy and deceptive bucket sent The World’s Most Famous Arena into a frenzy, and was the play of the night in one of the biggest wins in program history.
Nowell, who proudly sports the social media handle “Mr. New York City,” was the talk of Twitter after the performance. The Harlem product spent his first two years of high school at Bishop Loughlin in Brooklyn before finishing his high school career at The Patrick School in Hillsdale, New Jersey, the alma mater of Kyrie Irving.
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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