Marquis Nowell broke the NCAA tournament record for assists in a game with 19, his last two spectacular passes in the final minute of overtime, and Kansas State beat Michigan State 98-8 on Thursday night in a Sweet 16 thriller at Madison Square Garden. 93 beat.
Playing in his hometown and battling an ankle injury in the second half, Nowell found Keonte Johnson for a reverse alley-oop with 52 seconds left in OT to give the Wildcats (26-9) the lead for good in this back-end. found for East Region Semifinals. He then threw an inbound pass to Ismail Masood, who pulled down a jumper with 17 seconds left for the lead, 96–93.
With Michigan State needing a 3 to tie, Nowell stole the ball from the Spartans’ Tyson Walker and went for a clinching layup at the buzzer. The 5-foot-8, Harlem-raised Nowell finished with 20 points and five steals in a signature performance in basketball’s most famous area that drew tweets of praise from Patrick Mahomes and Kevin Durant.
Durant tweeted, “This was a great display of controlling the basketball game Marquis.”
Johnson scored 22 points for the No. 3 seed Wildcats, who will face either fourth-seeded Tennessee or ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic on Saturday as they seek the program’s first Final Four berth since 1964.
AJ Hoggard scored a career-high 25 points for seventh-seeded Michigan State (21–13). Joey Hauser added 18 points and Walker had 16, including the layup with 5 seconds left in regulation that forced the first overtime of this year’s NCAA tournament.
UNLV’s Mark Wade had the previous NCAA tourney assist record with 18 during the Runnin’ Rebels’ 1987 Final Four win over Indiana.
Nowell turned his ankle early in the second half, was helped off the court, and was taped. Michigan State took the lead with him, and when he returned, he sprained an ankle from the bank for a 3-pointer that beat the shot clock and tied the game at 55-all.
Turns out he was just getting started. Neither team led by more than seven points in the final 15 minutes of regulation, and Nowell stabilized Kansas State’s offense down the stretch, finding Masood for a 3-pointer that made it 80–75 and 1. Hit a jumper with 07. The Wildcats’ final basket of regulation.
Masood, who like Nowell honed his game on the playing fields of Harlem, finished with 15 points for the Wildcats, shooting 55.9% from the field, the only forward to shoot better than 50% against the Spartans this season. The second team was formed. Cam Carter added 12 points.
Jaden Akins added 14 points for coach Tom Izzo’s Spartans, the last Big Ten team left in the tournament. Michigan State outgained Kansas State 37–31 and finished 31 of 63 from the field (49.2%).
Both teams were proficient from 3-point range in a tournament that featured shaky outside shooting, with Michigan State going 13 of 25 (52%) and Kansas State going 11 of 24 (45.8%).