Markus Howard

Markus Anthony Howard (born March 3, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for Saski Baskonia of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for the Marquette Golden Eagles, where he was a two-time All-American and led the nation in scoring in the 2019–20 season.

For the American gridiron football player, see Marcus Howard.

Markus Howard
Howard in 2023
No. 0 – Cazoo Baskonia
PositionShooting guard
LeagueLiga ACB
EuroLeague
Personal information
Born (1999-03-03) March 3, 1999
Morristown, New Jersey, U.S.
Listed height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Listed weight175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
High school
CollegeMarquette (2016–2020)
NBA draft2020: undrafted
Playing career2020–present
Career history
2020–2022Denver Nuggets
2021–2022→Grand Rapids Gold
2022–presentBaskonia
Career highlights and awards
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats  at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing the  United States
FIBA U17 World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2016 Spain National team

High school career

Howard began his high school career at Perry High School in Gilbert, Arizona. As a freshman, he started in the backcourt with his brother and averaged 23 points per game, leading his team to the state semifinals.[1] He committed to Arizona State following his freshman season.[2] After a sophomore season where he averaged 32.4 points per game, Howard decommitted from Arizona State and reopened up his recruitment.[3]

For his junior season, Howard transferred to national basketball power Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada.[4] During his junior season at Findlay Prep, where he led the team in scoring, Howard announced that he would reclassify to the class of 2016 and signed with Marquette.[5]

College career

As a freshman at Marquette University, Howard entered the starting lineup and averaged 13.2 points per game and led the country in three-point shooting at 54.7%. He was named to the 2017 Big East Conference All-Freshman team.[6][7] As a sophomore, Howard became one of college basketball's top scorers. On the season, Howard averaged 20.4 points per game and was named second-team All-Big East.[8] He also finished the season with the NCAA’s second-best free throw percentage (93.8%).

Going into his junior season of 2018–19, Howard earned national preseason recognition, appearing on the watch lists for the Wooden Award, the Naismith Award and the Bob Cousy Award for top point guard. Howard was also selected preseason first-team All-Big East.[9] In Marquette's non-conference schedule, Howard recorded two 45-point games, against ranked teams Kansas State and Buffalo. In the Buffalo win, Howard scored 40 of his total in the second half.[10] He scored a career-high 53 points in an overtime win over Creighton on January 9, 2019, breaking a Big East single-game record.[11]

Howard became Marquette's all-time leading scorer when he contributed 38 points in an 88–53 victory against Loyola (Md.) in the team's season opener of his senior year. He was named Big East player of the week on November 11, 2019.[12] On November 29, Howard scored 51 points in a 101–79 win over USC. He became the third player to score 50 points in a game in three straight seasons, joining Wayman Tisdale and Pete Maravich. In addition, since he scored 40 points in the previous match, he joined Maravich, Johnny Neumann, and Bob Pettit as the only players in major conferences to score 40 points on back-to-back days.[13] Howard sat out a game against Jacksonville on December 4 with a concussion.[14] On February 12, 2020, Howard scored 24 points and had five rebounds and two assists in a 72–71 loss to Villanova. He became the Big East's all-time leading scorer in league games, surpassing Lawrence Moten's 1,405 points.[15] At the conclusion of the regular season, Howard was unanimously selected to the First Team All-Big East.[16] Howard averaged 27.8 points and 3.3 assists per game as a senior.[17] During his time at Marquette University, Howard accumulated 2761 points.

Professional career

Denver Nuggets (2020–2022)

After going undrafted in the 2020 NBA draft, Howard signed a two-way deal with the Denver Nuggets[18] whose official announcement was released on November 30, 2020.[19] On May 13, 2021, Howard scored a career-high 15 points in a 114–103 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.[20][21] He re-signed with the Nuggets on a new two-way contract on August 15, 2021.[22] Howard appeared in 31 games and had two 20-point performances during the 2021–22 season.[23]

Cazoo Baskonia (2022–Present)

On July 17, 2022, the Spanish team, Cazoo Baskonia, has announced the signing of Howard into a 2-year deal.[24] In October 2022, Howard became the eighth player ever to score 30 points or more in back-to-back games in the EuroLeague.[25] He scored 33 points against KK Partizan on October 14, 2022, and 30 points against Crvena Zvezda on October 19, 2022.[26][27]

National team career

Howard has represented the United States in FIBA play on two occasions. In 2015, he was a member of the gold medal-winning US team in the 2015 FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship. Howard then won a gold medal at the 2016 FIBA Under-17 World Championship in Zaragoza, Spain.[28] In the U17 tournament, Howard averaged 11.9 points and 2.6 assists per game.[29]

Career statistics

NBA
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2020–21 Denver 3715.5.377.277.778.6.5.1.02.8
2021–22 Denver 3105.7.386.400.870.4.2.3.04.1
Career 6815.6.382.341.844.5.4.2.03.4

Playoffs
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2021 Denver 9012.4.405.423.500.8.4.0.14.7

College
* Led NCAA Division I
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2016–17 Marquette 312722.0.506.547.8892.22.3.8.113.2
2017–18 Marquette 343131.5.464.404.9383.22.81.0.120.4
2018–19 Marquette 343433.5.420.403.8904.03.91.1.025.0
2019–20 Marquette 292933.2.422.412.8473.53.3.9.027.8*
Career 12812130.1.444.427.8823.23.11.0.021.6

Personal life

Howard's older brother Jordan Howard played college basketball for Central Arkansas and was the 2018 Southland Conference Player of the Year. The brothers were teammates for one season at Perry High.[30] He is of Puerto Rican descent.[31]

Howard is very public about his Christian faith. Howard explained the reason why he wears number 0 by saying, “First and foremost, I’m a Christian before anything else. I’m a son [of God], so I want to be sure that my number meant something and it represented something. It truly represents that without my relationship with Christ, I feel like I am not the person that I’m meant to be.“[32] In 2018, Howard started a Fellowship of Christian Athletes club at Marquette.[33]

See also

References
  1. Heller, Mark (April 20, 2014). "2013–2014 Tribune Boys Basketball Player of the Year: Markus Howard". East Valley Tribune. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  2. Obert, Richard (August 27, 2014). "Markus Howard from Gilbert Perry commits to ASU basketball". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  3. Obert, Richard (March 16, 2015). "Perry guard Markus Howard decommits from ASU". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  4. Ferguson, Ashton (June 19, 2015). "Arizona transfer Howard excited about playing for Findlay Prep". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  5. "Findlay Prep's Markus Howard reclassifies to 2016, commits to Marquette". USA Today. April 3, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  6. Steele, Ben (October 25, 2018). "Marquette guard Markus Howard has added muscle to help grow his game". Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  7. Velazquez, Matt (March 5, 2017). "Marquette's Markus Howard named to Big East all-freshman team". Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  8. Steele, Ben (March 4, 2018). "Marquette's Markus Howard named to all-Big East second team". Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  9. "Howard and Hauser earn BIG EAST honors as MU is picked second". Marquette Golden Eagles. October 25, 2018. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  10. Caron, Emily (December 21, 2018). "Markus Howard Explodes for 40-Point Second Half as Marquette Knocks Off Buffalo". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  11. Boone, Kyle (January 4, 2018). "Marquette's Markus Howard explodes for 52 points in overtime win vs. Providence". CBSSports.com. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  12. "Marquette's Howard, Villanova's Robinson-Earl Nab First #BIGEASThoops Weekly Honors". Big East Conference. November 11, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  13. "Marquette's Markus Howard drops 51, joins elite company". ESPN. Associated Press. November 29, 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
  14. Steele, Ben (December 4, 2019). "Marquette 75, Jacksonville 56: Golden Eagles win without Markus Howard". Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  15. "Marquette's Markus Howard now Big East's career points leader". ESPN. February 12, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  16. Steele, Ben (March 8, 2020). "Marquette's Markus Howard is named to all-Big East first team". Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  17. Dauster, Rob (March 10, 2020). "NBC Sports College Basketball All-American Teams". NBC Sports. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  18. Steele, Ben (November 18, 2020). "Marquette's Markus Howard gets a chance with the Denver Nuggets after going undrafted". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  19. "Nuggets sign guard Markus Howard to two-way contract". nba.com. November 30, 2020. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  20. "Nuggets' Markus Howard sets new career-high in win over Timberwolves". The Rookie Wire. May 13, 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  21. "Nikola Jokic leads super-sized Nuggets past Timberwolves". The Denver Post. May 13, 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2021. Both Markus Howard (15 points) and Vlatko Cancar (14) enjoyed career-highs and helped offset Karl-Anthony Towns' 20-point, 11-rebound effort for Minnesota.
  22. "Nuggets Re-Sign Markus Howard To Two-Way Deal". Hoops Rumors. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  23. "Nuggets 2021–22 Player Reviews: Markus Howard". www.nba.com. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  24. "Markus Howard, nuevo director de juego de Cazoo Baskonia". acb.com. July 17, 2022. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  25. Darius Garuolis [@DariusGaruolis] (October 19, 2022). "30+ point back-to-back #EuroLeague games 2022–23 Markus Howard 2019–20 Nando De Colo 2016–17 Milos Teodosic 2004–05 Charles Smith 2003–04 Milos Vujanic 2003–04 Lynn Greer 2001–02 Vlado Scepanovic 2001–02 Jaka Lakovic" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  26. "Markus Howard explodes for 33 points as Baskonia defeats Partizan in OT". basketnews.com. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  27. "Baskonia prevails at home over feisty Crvena Zvezda". Eurohoops. October 19, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  28. Stevens, Ryan (June 12, 2016). "USA Basketball Training Camp Veteran: Markus Howard". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on June 14, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  29. "Incoming Marquette Basketball Freshman Markus Howard Wins FIBA U17 Gold Medal With Team USA". SBNation.com. June 3, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  30. Obert, Richard (January 11, 2018). "College basketball's 'Splash Brothers' Jordan and Markus Howard got their start at Perry High". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  31. Fbpur pone el ojo en Markus Howard (Spanish)
  32. "MAGAZINE: Marquette's Markus Howard is Making Disciples and Buckets". Sports Spectrum. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  33. Comerford, Zoe, Faith plays crucial role in shaping Howard's life, starts FCA at Marquette, retrieved January 31, 2020
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