Jerome Tang recalls process of keeping Markquis Nowell at Kansas State

As Kansas State‘s run through the NCAA Tournament continues the country is getting to know point guard Markquis Nowell a little bit better. The diminutive dynamo for the Wildcats has won the hearts of thousands.

Including his coach.

In fact, Nowell’s relationship with coach Jerome Tang was already developing before the two had ever met each other. It was happening while Tang was an assistant coach at Baylor, prior to earning the Kansas State head coaching gig.

“I got the chance to watch him play for a whole year and help scout and develop a defensive plan for him,” Tang explained. “And watching film when I was at Baylor, I told our staff he’s a Baylor guard. He could play for us at Baylor. Then I also thought pound for pound he was the toughest kid in the conference.”

Little did Tang know, the scouting was a two-way street.

While Tang was just an assistant coach at Baylor, at Kansas State Markquis Nowell was already talent scouting. When Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber resigned last year, Nowell jumped in the ear of his athletics director.

“Found out a few weeks later that he had actually texted our athletic director Gene Taylor my name as somebody he should look at and that he had told Gene he was planning to stay and help the program win,” Tang said. “I mean, knowing that, just that kind of buy-in and that kind of belief, it was just incredible. It really wasn’t anything that I did. It was just this kid, this young man. He’s just incredible.”

Markquis Nowell has gone on to star under Tang’s direction at Kansas State, with the Wildcats on the verge of the Final Four now.

The point guard has averaged 17.2 points, 8.1 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. He’s absolutely loaded the stat sheet up all year, and he’s helped set the culture at Kansas State.

The same culture Tang and his crew have rode into the Elite Eight.

A pretty good two-way relationship, to say the least.

“When I was interviewing for the job, he was one of the people that I was like, man, I’ve got to make sure I keep him,” Tang recalled. “And then after I got the job, our first team meeting, he had incredible eye contact when I spoke to the team, and he was nodding very positively, and I just felt like there was a connection there.”

Kansas State will find out later tonight if that connection is good enough to reach the Final Four. An Elite Eight game against Florida Atlantic is scheduled for a 6:09 p.m. ET tipoff, with a national broadcast set for TBS.