Marquette guard Markus Howard had himself a day, dropping 51 points on USC in Friday’s Orlando Invitational semifinal. In doing so, Howard made both tournament and NCAA history, joining some elite names.
Markus Howard's 51-point performance
Guy is a walking bucket
(via @marchmadness)pic.twitter.com/idITQvvksp
— Bleacher Report CBB (@br_CBB) November 30, 2019
Howard became the third major conference player to have a 50-point game in three consecutive seasons, the other two being Pistol Pete Maravich (LSU, 1967-70) and Wayman Tisdale (Oklahoma, 1982-85).
His previous 50-point games came on Jan. 3, 2018 against Providence (52 points) and Jan. 9, 2019 against Creighton in which he set a Big East record for points in a single game with 53. Howard is the only Division I player in the past 20 years with multiple 50-point games, but his most recent one may be the most impressive.
Howard’s first two times reaching 50 came in overtime. This was the first time he achieved not only in regulation, but with plenty of time to spare. He scored bucket No. 50 on a three point play with 5:36 left in the game. He played 32 minutes, which is the fewest in any 50-point effort from a major conference player in the last 25 years.
Howard also set the record for most points scored in a game in tournament history, breaking his own record of 40 which he set the previous night.
The milestones don’t end there, though. He also joined Maravich, Johnny Neumann, and Bob Pettit as the only major conference players to score 40 points on consecutive nights.
Marquette will face No. 5 Maryland in the Orlando Invitational championship game on Sunday.
