Did Markquis Nowell, Jerome Tang fake an argument to free up Keyontae Johnson for alley-oop?

New York City native Markquis Nowell spent the entirety of Kansas State’s Sweet 16 matchup against the Michigan State Spartans pulling off magic.

His dazzling assists carried the first half. In fact, he was the only one not looking at them.

The Wildcats’ second half was similarly dominated by Nowell, first with uncertainty surrounding his injured ankle, then with more flights of fancy immediately upon his return. As the buzzer sounded, it was Nowell — of course — hobbling towards the cup and throwing up a last-ditch layup that nearly hit nylon and averted overtime.

Instead, the ball met only backboard, and an extra period was necessary in this one. Those additional five minutes allowed Nowell to unleash his wildest trick yet — or was it just good basketball?

One of Nowell’s NCAA Tournament single-game record 19 assists was different from the others, as it was immediately preceded by a somewhat heated discussion with his coach Jerome Tang … which halted abruptly so he could find a cutting Keyontae Johnson for the alley-oop slam.

Did Kansas State stars Markquis Nowell, Keyontae Johnson hook up for fake argument alley-oop with Jerome Tang?

In the postgame press conference, all parties were noticeably coy when the topic was broached.

Tang seemed the most suspicious; while Nowell was attempting to answer the question of whether or not the fight was legitimate, he tried to mutter that his guard shouldn’t give anything away before the next game.

Nowell’s response, delivered with a smirk at first, then a deadly serious face for the remainder, betrayed nothing.

Whichever parts of the dunk were a “basketball play” were brilliant, whether or not there was deception involved.

Tang, when asked what an Elite 8 berth meant to him, expressed that he was just relieved to spend an extra day of practice with his guys. Something tells us that practice will involve a trained fight choreographer.