NEW YORK — Less than 24 hours after his historic Sweet 16 performance, Kansas State guard Markquis Nowell said his injured ankle is 85% to 90% healthy.
However, he left zero doubt about his status for Saturday's Elite Eight game against Florida Atlantic. «It's good,» Nowell said. «It will probably be [better] tomorrow.» Nowell said that he was able to move around at practice on Friday. «It was a scare,» Nowell said. «I tweaked it a little bit, but it feels good now.
Just been icing it, elevating it, stuff you do with a rolled ankle.» Nowell had one of the greatest individual performances in NCAA tournament history in Thursday's 98-93 overtime win over Michigan State, setting a tournament record with 19 assists while also contributing 20 points and 5 steals.
Much of that performance came after Nowell suffered a seemingly serious ankle injury early in the second half. He was on the floor for several minutes and needed to be helped off the floor by two Kansas State staffers.