Nowell Staying in the Moment

By: D. Scott Fritchen

He wore a white K-State t-shirt. Same signature beard. Same signature smile. But Kansas State senior point guard Markquis Nowell fielded some different types of questions than usual at a news conference Monday at Ice Family Basketball Facility.

Do you ever think 'Oh my gosh,' when you look at your performance?

What's been the response from folks back home in Harlem, New York about all your success?

Does the game seem to be going in slow motion for you now?

The questions rolled on and on.

"I just try to stay in the moment," Nowell said. "I try not to get too high or too low. I try to focus on whatever it is that I need to focus on. I never look at my stats and try not to look at the scoreboard. I just focus on the task at hand and try to stay in the moment.

"Everything else will figure itself out."

Why the big fuss?

Well, the 5-foot-8, 160-pound Nowell was named ESPN's National Player of the Week on Monday while K-State vaulted from being unranked to No. 11 in the AP Top 25 Poll. K-State, 14-1, is off to its best start in 64 years and comes off three wins in three games against Top 25 opponents for the first time in school history.

In addition to ESPN, Nowell was named the National Player of the Week by NCAA March Madness and the Naismith Trophy presented by Jersey Mike's.

Nowell, who comes off arguably the best week by any player in the country so far this season, is a big reason for the success by the Wildcats, who meet Oklahoma State, 9-6 overall and 1-2 in the Big 12, at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Bramlage Coliseum.

"He deserves (national player of the week)," first-year K-State head coach Jerome Tang said. "His hard work is paying off. But I don't think that's Markquis' goal, which is what I love about him. He has bigger goals. I'm excited for us to continue to get a little bit better every day."

Nowell is on pace to become the only player in K-State history to average 17.0 points and 8.0 assists in a season. His 8.9 assists rank second in Division I and is on pace to destroy the season school mark of 5.62 set by Jim Roder in 1983-84. He is on pace for 275 total assists, which would mark the most by a Division I player since Ja Morant of Murray State (331) in 2018-19.

Nowell is one of two active Division I players with 1,500 points, 500 assists and 200 steals. After his 14-assist performance against No. 19 Baylor on Saturday, he became just the 11^th active Division I player with 600 career assists.

"The game is more slower," Nowell said. "I'm starting to see things at a slower pace, which is making the game easier. We have a lot of threats on the floor like Keyontae Johnson, Ishmael Massoud and Nae'Qwan Tomlin, so teams have to pick their poison with us. I try to do the best I can to facilitate and get these guys open, and whenever I have my opportunities I try to take them as much as possible."

Against No. 24 West Virginia (an 82-76 overtime win) and No. 6 Texas (a 116-13 victory), Nowell combined for 59 points, 19 assists, 10 steals and shot 52% from the floor. Steph Curry of Davidson was the only Division I player to match or surpass that in the last 25 seasons.

Between No. 6 Texas and No. 19 Baylor (a 97-95 overtime win), Nowell averaged 34.0 points on 54.8% shooting, including 58.8% on 3-pointers, to go along with 11.4 assists per game. Nowell had a career-high 36 points and nine assists against the Longhorns. Nowell's 32 points and career-high 14 assists against the Bears marked the first 30 point/10 assist game in K-State history and just the second in Division I in the last 10 seasons. Oklahoma's Trae Young did so in 2017.

Nowell indicated that a portion of his success belongs to K-State assistant coach Rodney Perry, who has 28 years of coaching experience, including 15 at the college level, and had a hand in developing Atlanta Hawks' superstar Trae Young. Now Perry tutors Nowell and is helping the native of Harlem, New York, take his game to another level.

"(Perry) has been big in my improvement," Nowell said. "A lot of times we watch film together and just talk the game of basketball. To see myself and Trae Young are the only two people to do the things we've been doing is just a compliment to who Coach Perry is as a coach. He's a great coach. I spend most of my time with him."

Nowell is the first K-State player since Michael Beasley to reach 30 points in back-to-back games. In combining for 68 points and 23 assists against the Longhorns and Bears, Nowell became just the third Division I player in the past 10 seasons to post at least 65 points and 20 assists in a two-game span — joining Morant and Young.

Tang, who arrived at K-State in March after serving as assistant and associate head coach at Baylor for the previous 19 seasons, has seen and has developed ample talent. Asked if he had witnessed this type of consistent high-level play, he replied, "No, not at this level. You saw the stats. There's only two other dudes who've ever done what (Nowell) has done and they're both NBA All-Stars."

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Nowell "is just the third Division I player to average 30 points and 10 assists in a three-game stretch over the past 25 seasons — and the only one to do it against three ranked opponents."

"We have these personality things we do and Markquis by nature is a tiger, right?" Tang said. "And the tiger's bigger, stronger, faster than a lion. But the lion's the king of the jungle. We've been helping Markquis learn how to be a lion for parts of the game, and at the right times in the game, we need him to be a tiger, just go eat and kill, and he's learning when and how to do that."

Nowell was also named Big 12 Player of the Week for the second time on Monday. He turned in a MVP performance at the Cayman Islands Classic where he averaged 18.7 points on 45.2% shooting with 9.0 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game to also earn the weekly honor for the first time on November 28.

"The thing is, of course 'Quis has gotten better, but he's been this player," said K-State junior forward Ish Massoud, a Harlem native, who joined Nowell as the only two holdovers from last season's team. "It's just situation and opportunity. For me, he's doing what I know he could've been doing this whole time and what he's done since I've known him. Of course, he's gotten a lot better.

"I can't say nothing surprises me because there are sometimes in the game where it's like, 'Yo, that's impressive even for 'Quis,' but it's amazing to see all of this to come true. Especially coming from where we come from, to see him on the national stage doing what he's doing — there's still more levels he can take it to, which I know he will."

That's a scary proposition for the rest of the Big 12.

Nowell maintains an even-keeled approach despite his record-setting success.

"There's been a lot of love from everywhere," he said. "I appreciate the love. It's a blessing to see what hard work and faith does, but we have Oklahoma State next and that's my focus."

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Keyontae Johnson

Markquis Nowell

Nae'Qwan Tomlin

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