By Dan Froelich | Special to LRTrojans.com
The distance between the famed Dyckman Basketball Courts on West 204th Street in Washington Heights in New York City and Derek Fisher Court at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, is 1,249 miles. And as you drive those miles over the US interstates, you may be in for a rough and bumpy ride.
But for Little Rock sophomore guard Markquis Nowell, the ride has been nothing but smooth.
Nowell, a three-star guard coming out of high school, had offers from plenty of the basketball powerhouses, especially so for a kid growing up in the northeast, the heartbeat of amateur basketball. But instead of being a small fish in a big pond, the 5-7 lightning bolt of a scorer decided to take the road less traveled and become the heart of a Trojan hoops squad that will head into 2020 with an 8-5 record after winning both of its Sun Belt conference opening games on the road, including a one point win at ULM on December 19.
That victory, which culminated in Nowell hitting three three-pointers in the final 35 seconds, including the game winner from the ULM logo, brought national attention to both the sophomore guard and the Trojan basketball program and helped drive home the lesson Nowell learned during the recruiting process.
"I encourage all kids to go to the right system instead of the big name schools," Nowell said. "Every kid's dream's school is probably the Dukes, Kentucky and Kansas.
"As I grew older I knew I had to find the right coach that would let me play my game," he said. "If I was at Duke, I'd probably be in a different situation. Being in Little Rock is just comfortable. I'm able to be myself. I don't have to hide anything. They know who I am and that's really what kids need to look for in coaches."
Known to the Twitterverse as @MrNewYorkCityy, Nowell has gone from an 11-points per game freshman to a 19.8 ppg sophomore, which leads the Sun Belt Conference. He has scored in double figures in 11 of 13 games, eclipsing the 20-point mark eight times, while also dishing out 4.5 assists and notching 2.9 steals per game for the Trojans.
But it's not the stats that matter.
"Winning," said the two-time Sun Belt Player of the Week. "I really try to do whatever I can to win a basketball game. I'm just playing my game and there's nothing I don't feel comfortable doing out there. Even with the turnovers, even with the shots from far, I'm doing whatever is comfortable out there when I'm on the court.
"Everybody can score," he added. "I don't think of me being the go-to scorer because I set my teammates up. Whoever's open, that's the go-to scorer on that possession."
Even with a very brief dalliance with baseball - think Little League and nothing further - it has been nothing but basketball for the guard who proudly proclaims HEART OVER HEIGHT on his pre-game warmup t-shirt.
"That's the slogan I live by, Heart Over Height," Nowell said. "I'm an undersized guard that is just trying to be an inspiration to kids under six feet. Isaiah Thomas, Nate Robinson, all those guards created the platform and I'm just going with it."
Nowell was again overlooked this preseason as none of the national publications put him on any of its Preseason All-Sun Belt Teams while also picking the Trojans to finish in the bottom two of the 12-team league. But from the preseason until now, Nowell and his teammates have been proving the prognosticators all wrong.
Having the guidance of a head coach that has both played and coached in the NBA has helped shape that record and Nowell's confidence on the court.
"Coach is a genius with the Xs and Os," Nowell said. "I knew that if we got together and collaborated we could do some big things. I'm the leader on the court and he's the leader on the court too. Combining our leadership would be big for this program."
For now, Nowell and his teammates will enjoy this 12-day break between games, including Nowell celebrating his birthday on Christmas Day, with the expectations that what happened in the first half of the season is also possible after the calendar has flipped.
Holding a 2-0 record in Sun Belt play as the calendar changes to 2020, Little Rock has a chance to make a significant mark on the conference race early in January, playing four of their first five games of the New Year at the Jack Stephens Center. That stretch begins Thursday, January 2, when the Trojans host Texas State at 6:30 p.m., leading iinto home matches against UT-Arlington (Jan. 4), Georgia Southern (Jan. 6) and South Alabama (Jan. 11) - all of which were predicted to finish in the top-four of the Sun Belt standings.
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