Kansas State’s shortest player is surprisingly piling up double-doubles for Wildcats
When you think of basketball players who stuff the stat sheet so consistently that they routinely finish games with a double-double, your mind understandably pictures an oversized forward who is capable of scoring easy points around the basket and grabbing a whole bunch of rebounds.
After all, reaching double figures in both points and rebounds is the most common formula for a double-double on the hardwood.
But Markquis Nowell is going about things in a different way this season. The 5-foot-8 senior guard leads the Kansas State men’s basketball team with four double-doubles in 13 games despite not recording more than six rebounds on any given night. He likes to get his double-doubles via points and assists.
No other player in the history of K-State basketball has logged more double-doubles from points and assists than Nowell’s seven over the past two seasons. Those numbers seem to perfectly explain his slogan of “heart over height.”
Nowell even flirted with a triple-double on Saturday when he had 23 points, 10 assists and seven steals during a conference victory over West Virginia. There’s a chance he could produce the first recorded triple-double in program history later on this season. His next chance will be K-State’s Tuesday clash with Texas, set for an 8 p.m. tip in Austin.
“That would be lovely,” Nowell said earlier this season. “But when you have got guys like David (N’Guessan) and Keyontae (Johnson) stealing your rebounds, it’s pretty hard. I just want to win at the end of the day. I don’t care if I get a triple-double or double-double. As long as there is a win in the win column you know I’m going to feel satisfied.”
The versatility that Nowell has brought to Jerome Tang’s starting lineup this season has been a difference-maker for the Wildcats. Nowell ranks 11th in the Big 12 with 14.4 points per game, first in assists with 8.5 per game and second in steals at 2.4 per game.
His deep three-pointers and no-look passes have become a staple for K-State as the team has sprinted to a 12-1 start.
Retaining Nowell at point guard has helped Tang make a smooth transition into his first season as a head coach.
“That is wonderful, when you don’t have to coach the ball as much, you can coach the other four guys out there,” Tang said. “It makes life a lot better for you as a coach.”
Tang credited Nowell for guiding K-State to an overtime victory over West Virginia in the Big 12 opener for both teams.
The Wildcats are going win most of their games when Nowell flirts with a triple-double.
“His willingness to share the ball, his willingness to learn and to grow, even within the game, seeing what they were doing and how we were going to attack it,” Tang said. “When they switched in the second half and changed their ball screen coverage, we attacked it differently. That’s a great credit to him as a player, as a person.”