Nowell’s Spectacular Heroics Not Enough to Get K-State Wildcats to Final Four

Markquis Nowell, who is from Harlem and only 5 feet 8 inches tall, put on an amazing show at Madison Square Garden! He had 50 points, 31 assists and 10 steals over two games. Because of his performance, he was named the East Region’s best player. This means that he helped take Kansas State to its first Final Four since 1964!

Kansas State had a hard time against Florida Atlantic in their game Saturday night and lost with a score of 79-76. It was enough for the Florida Atlantic team to earn them a spot in the national semifinals. Nowell, from Kansas State, put up a good fight with 30 points, 12 assists and 5 steals, but on the last play his team wasn’t able to make a tying 3 pointer.

“I’m so thrilled to be here playing my heart out,” Nowell said. “I truly wanted to make our team, the Wildcats, proud and enjoy this special win! Without Keyontae Johnson’s help we wouldn’t have won, but unfortunately he got into some trouble with fouls, so he couldn’t play as much.”

The man everyone was talking about at Kansas State this season, Florida star John Johnson, scored nine points and had two rebounds in the game. Before then, he had been leading all Wildcats players in scoring with average of 17.7 points per game. After the match had finished though, John looked really sad as he walked off the court – because he said the loss was his fault for making a foul earlier on.

Johnson said he tried not to show how he felt on the court but once he got to the locker room, his coach, Jerome Tang cheered them since it was such a memorable season. Massoud, who is also from Harlem, wished he could have taken a shot at the last second. He was given the ball by Nowell however two Owls quickly surrounded him and the ball ended up loose.

Massoud said that he wishes he had taken a shot at the game, but now will always remember Nowell’s incredible performance in New York. He commented that words could not even begin to explain what Nowell was able to do on the court, saying it was one of the best NCAAs this season and surpassed any performance from years prior. Massoud also concluded by emphasizing how crucial Nowell was to their success and without his hard work they would not have been in contention for the game.

Before he coached the Wildcats, Tang had already gone through two Elite Eight losses at the Baylor. He said that he’s not going to focus on the negatives and will keep moving forward despite what happened during his first season with this team. According to him, it’s more a lesson for them to grow up into men rather than learning something about basketball.

Head over to Bigbignews.net for all the coverage on March Madness!