Marquette Basketball: 2018-19 player reviews for the Golden Eagles

G Markus Howard (JR)

25.0 ppg – 3.9 rpg -3.9 apg – 42/40/89 percent shooting

Season’s Successes

Scoring: Gallons of digital ink have already been spilled over Howard’s remarkable scoring season, so here are just a few highlights:

• Single-season MU scoring record: 851 points, topping Andrew Rowsey’s 716 points last year
• Single-season MU per-game record: 25.0 ppg, topping Tony Smith’s 23.8 mark in 1989-90
• Single-season MU free throws record: 227 free throws, topping Wesley Matthews’ 213 in 2008-09
• Second high-major player in the country to average 25-3.9-3.9 since 1992-93 (Trae Young)
• First Big East player to top 110 made threes in two seasons (MU also has four players in the top-eight of the single-season made three-pointers list (Rowsey (125), Steve Novak, (121), and Howard (120, 111))
• Three games with at least 45 points, including a conference-record 53 at Creighton

Fouls: Howard’s size will always make him a liability on defense, but he helped his cause this season by limiting ticky-tack fouls. Over his three seasons at MU, Howard has noticeably improved his foul rate each year, jumping from 4.6 fouls committed per 40 minutes as a freshman (16th percentile) to 3.2 FC/40 as a sophomore (61st percentile) to 2.5 FC/40 as a junior (81st percentile). His awareness not only allowed him to stay on the floor for extended minutes but also prevented other teams from specifically hunting him when he played with three or four fouls late in games. Howard did not foul out of a game this year after doing so five times combined in his first two seasons.

Areas to Improve

Ceding Control: Howard finished with one of the highest usage rates in the country, soaking up about 37 percent of Marquette’s possessions when he was on the floor, give or take a few tenths of a percentage depending on the stat tracker. The All-American junior was excellent for the majority of the season under such immense pressure, but if he can spread the wealth a tad more, and Wojo can create additional offensive looks for his teammates, then Marquette should be less predictable in crunch time. The inclusion of redshirt guards McEwen and Elliott in 2019-20 should help diversify the offense and keep Howard – who is already exceptionally conditioned – fresh over the long season.

Turnovers: Howard averaged 3.9 turnovers for the season, which spiked to 4.3 during Big East play, and 4.7 during the season-ending seven-game slide. He has decent vision and a nice handle, but it’s a lot to ask someone to initiate the offense every time down the floor for 35 minutes a night. Howard needs to be smarter in certain spots, but his turnover numbers should improve if he gets some help from his backcourt mates. Another year of seasoning for Anim and Bailey, the aforementioned additions of McEwen and Elliott, and the Hauser brothers’ steady presence gives Marquette more than enough ball handling to ease Howard’s burden. He’ll still need to do some heavy lifting, but it need not be so colossal.