Just when you thought things actually couldn’t get any cooler with Markquis Nowell’s epic performance against Michigan State, it just keeps going.
Nowell made the play of the night when he threw a lob pass to his teammate, Keyontae Johnson, in the final moments of Kansas State’s game against Michigan State. That’s already cool on its own.
It’s not the play people are obsessed with — it’s what happened before it. It looked like Nowell was actually arguing with his coach about something before catching his teammate cutting using his peripheral vision and tossing the lob. That’s what it looked like initially. Jerome Tang even played it up a bit like that’s what actually happened.
But now, Nowell himself is telling us a different story.
As it turns out, while he was arguing with his coach, he was also trash-talking Isiah Thomas and Mateen Cleaves. They were both in the Michigan State section and Nowell told them to “watch this” before he tossed the alley-oop.
I'm pretty sure Markquis Nowell turned to Mateen Cleaves in the stands and said "Watch this" before that alley-pop to Keyontae Johnson.
— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) March 24, 2023
He was asked about that moment in the postgame press conference and had so much fun with it.
Here’s Markquis Nowell talking about trash talking Isiah Thomas pic.twitter.com/z1GPdMLq3g
— Nancy Armour (@nrarmour) March 24, 2023
“Yeah, I was talking to Isiah Thomas because I think he had a friend over there, and he was rooting for them. And I’m like, y’all not going to win today, and I just kept looking at him for some added motivation. But it was nothing but cool vibes with them over there. “
That’s just amazing, man. Not only did Nowell have the guts to throw that extremely dangerous pass in such a sensitive moment, but he did it while trash-talking an NBA legend. That’s just wild.
He was certainly right about the good vibes, though. Thomas loves him and thinks he’s got an NBA future.
Isiah Thomas told me he was talking w/ Mateen Cleaves the entire game about Markquis Nowell's toughness. Isiah & Cleaves both had famous championship comebacks from bad ankles. Isiah: "This was a special night. He can absolutely play in the NBA. He's the real deal."
— Ian O'Connor (@Ian_OConnor) March 24, 2023
That’s some high praise from the Hall of Famer. After watching Thursday’s game, though, it’s hard to disagree with him.
