As if he wasn’t already a star, Markquis Nowell took the world by storm on Thursday night after leading the Kansas State Wildcats to a 98-93 OT victory over Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans.
Nowell’s performance will go down in the history books as one of the greatest in NCAA Tournament history, as he recorded 20 points, five steals, and a tournament-record 19 assists.
The game’s highlights are filled to the brim with ridiculous plays from the senior point guard from Harlem, New York, and so are the pages of newspapers around the Big Apple.
Nowell is featured on this morning’s back pages of the New York Post and the New York Daily News, which the Big 12 conference shared on Twitter Friday.
Nowell went down early in the second half with what appeared to be a serious ankle injury, but reentered the game and was vital to the Wildcats’ run to finish the game in overtime.
In fact, Nowell played 43 of a possible 45 minutes, the two minutes that he missed were due to the ankle injury. That didn’t stop the New York City native from coming back into the contest and having a truly magical performance in Madison Square Garden.
Nowell and the Wildcats will face No. 9 seed FAU in the Elite Eight on Saturday, with a spot in the Final Four on the line. The game, of course, will be player in MSG, which means we won’t be picking agaisnt the Cats in this one.
