Transfer guard Markquis Nowell shining in new role with Kansas State men’s basketball
Watch Bruce Weber the next time Markquis Nowell tries to make something happen inside Bramlage Coliseum.
It’s one of the most entertaining things a Kansas State men’s basketball fan can do during a home game. His facial expressions are worth the cost of admission.
Weber will cringe when Nowell pulls up for three-pointer from NBA range. He will raise his arms high into the air when Nowell attempts a full-court pass. He will hold his breath when Nowell drives to the basket and tries to score over bigger defenders.
But those reactions often turn into smiles when those aggressive plays work out for the Wildcats. That hasn’t always been the case this season, but it’s happening more and more lately. Nowell has led K-State in scoring in back-to-back games while also making an impact in other areas.
The 5-foot-8 transfer guard from Arkansas-Little Rock is learning how to play in Weber’s system, and he’s starting to earn more trust from his coach.
“I told the coaches Markquis probably deserves to start,” Weber said following an 84-42 victory over North Dakota in which Nowell had 18 points, five assists and five steals, “but for our team it’s better for him to come off the bench. He gives us that dynamic scorer and playmaker off the bench.”
K-State added three impact transfers during the offseason, and Nowell could turn out to be the best of the group.
The only question is if he can learn to pace himself. He played with reckless abandon at his former school. It didn’t matter if he made boneheaded mistakes. His good plays outweighed the bad. But you can’t play that way in the Big 12.
Weber told him as much a few days ago.
“You can become a leader if you really want to,” Weber remembers saying to Nowell, “but you’ve got to hold yourself accountable, which allows you to hold everyone else accountable. But if you’re going to do undisciplined things and try to make your own plays you can’t be a leader.”
Nowell seems to have taken that message to heart. Aside from a roller-coaster game against Florida A&M, he has scored at least 10 points in all of his games with the Wildcats. His finest performance came against Illinois when he had 19 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals.
He stopped being an entertainer and started making good basketball plays.
“That’s my style of play growing up in New York,” Nowell said. “We’re flashy. We play with a certain swagger about us, and I bring that over to K-State. I’m not only an entertainer. I want to be a winner at the end of the day. It feels good when you’re able to do both.”
His speed and shooting range have given K-State something new it has lacked in previous seasons.
He is an extra weapon off the bench.
“I can’t even put into words how crucial he’s been to this team, to building this culture that we’re building right now,” K-State senior Mike McGuirl said. “The energy that he brings every day is consistent. It’s been huge. To have someone like that coming off the bench is amazing. It’s big time in college basketball.”