Kansas State gets more good transfer news with addition of former All-Sun Belt guard
A good day of transfer news for the Kansas State men’s basketball team got even better on Tuesday when the Wildcats landed their second veteran guard from another school in less than 24 hours.
Makquis Nowell, a 5-foot-7 point guard originally from Harlem, New York, has announced that he plans to transfer and play for the Wildcats next season after spending the past three years at Arkansas-Little Rock.
Nowell will be expected to immediately help K-State in the backcourt by providing guard depth behind Nijel Pack, Mike McGuirl. With Missouri guard Mark Smith also on his way to Manhattan, the Wildcats suddenly have an abundance of capable ballhandlers on their roster.
Nowell should be able to help the Wildcats next season, assuming he is immediately eligible, if he can even approach the numbers he put up at UALR. Nowell averaged 14.3 points and 4.9 assists while playing in 68 games for his former school. His best season came in 2019-20 when he averaged 17.2 points and he helped the Trojans win a regular season conference championship and was voted a first-team All-Sun Belt player.
His size will be a concern as he tries to adjust to Big 12 basketball, but he is fast and capable of making shots well beyond the NBA three-point line. He made 156 three-pointers with the Trojans. Cutting down on his turnovers (he had 246) will be important.
An opposing Sun Belt coach had this to say about Nowell: “Damn good. Plays with confidence and swagger. Great at running the team. Can take and make tough shots. Can make shots anywhere across half court. He’s fast and he’s a competitor.”
Nowell will be looking for redemption at K-State. His departure from UALR did not end on the best of terms.
Nowell only played in 15 games this past season and started in just eight of them. He was reportedly suspended for two games because of disciplinary reasons and ultimately decided to “opt out” of the team’s remaining games following a road loss against Texas State in early February.
UALR coach Darrell Walker told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that Nowell’s departure was a good thing for both parties.
“Markquis didn’t want to be part of the team,” Walker said. “So at the end of the day, he has opted out. That’s the best thing for him, and it’s the best thing for us, and we are definitely happy to be moving on.”
Nowell was originally a three-star recruit out of The Patrick School in Newark, New Jersey in the class of 2018. He held scholarship offers from Georgetown, Minnesota, Rutgers and Seton Hall but chose to leave the Northeast and begin his college basketball career in Arkansas.
He has two seasons of eligibility remaining and will try to make the most of them at K-State.
Transfers were a concern for K-State when four players departed the team earlier this month. But with two promising veteran players on the way, they are suddenly a source of optimism.
This story was originally published March 30, 2021 at 9:54 PM.