NBA star Kevin Durant paid a nice compliment to Markquis Nowell after K-State’s epic win
The legend of Markquis Nowell continued to grow Thursday in the NCAA Tournament.
Nowell scored 20 points, had five steals and set an NCAA Tournament record with 19 assists as Kansas State won an epic 98-93 overtime contest against Michigan State in a Sweet 16 game in New York.
The Wildcats star did that despite suffering an ankle injury in the second half that forced him to the sideline for a few minutes.
ESPN Stats & Info noted Nowell is just the fifth player to score 15 points and dish 15 assists in an NCAA Tournament game since assists became an official statistic in 1984.
That’s not even the most impressive stat about Nowell’s big night.
OptaStats shared a list of Division I or NBA players with 20 or more points, 15 or more assists and five or more steals in a game in the last 10 seasons. The list is not long:
James Harden (4 times)
Chris Paul (3 times)
Markquis Nowell (Thursday night)
OptaStats added this gem, too: Nowell has 64 points, 42 assists and 11 steals in the Wildcats’ three NCAA Tournament games. The last Division I or NBA player to reach all of those numbers over any three-game span was Allen Iverson from April 8-14, 2005.
Is it any wonder that Nowell was a hot topic on Twitter during and after the Wildcats’ victory?
One of the best basketball players on the planet felt moved to tweet about Nowell. Kevin Durant wrote: “That was a legendary display of controlling a basketball game Markquis. GG’s”
