For the second straight season, Marquette senior guard Markus Howard was chosen unanimously for the All-BIG EAST First Team, the league announced Sunday afternoon.
This is the first time an MU player has been named First Team All-Conference in consecutive seasons since Travis Diener was an All-Conference USA First Team honoree in 2003-04 and 2004-05.
The nation’s leading scorer averages 27.8 points per game. The 5-foot-11 guard also possesses two BIG EAST career records with 1,587 points and 245 3-pointers. Howard averaged 28.7 points during conference play, which is the best since Boston College’s Troy Bell scored 27.8 points per game in 2002-03.
The 2019 BIG EAST Player of the Year finished the 2019-20 regular season reaching the 30-point mark in 15 games and is currently 21st on the NCAA all-time scoring list with 2,761 points. Howard also set a single-season record, scoring 30 points or more 10 times during league games.
With 434 threes, he ranks seventh in NCAA history. Howard also owns 68 career games with 20 points or more, 32 with 30 points or more and seven of 40 or more and three 50-point performances. All three of his 50-point games have come during conference season and is the only player in the last 20 years with multiple games scoring over 50 points.
After scoring 91 points in consecutive days in the Orlando Invitational, Howard became the fourth player in a major conference to do so, joining Ole Miss’ Johnny Neumann and Louisiana State University’s Peter Maravich and Bob Pettit.
Howard, Maravich and Oklahoma’s Wayman Tisdale are the only three players in a major conference to record 50-point games in three straight seasons.
Not only has the Chandler, Arizona, native set numerous records in his collegiate career, he is also a candidate for national Player of the Year.
No other Golden Eagle was chosen for either the All-BIG EAST Second Team or Honorable Mention.
Along with Howard, Seton Hall’s Myles Powell and Villanova’s Saddiq Bey were also unanimous selections. The remainder of the All-BIG EAST First Team includes Butler’s Kamar Baldwin, Creighton’s Ty-Shon Alexander and Xavier’s Naji Marshall. All six players are vying for 2020 BIG EAST Player of the Year.
The conference will announce selections of other individual awards, which includes Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man Award and Sportsmanship Award Monday morning. But BIG EAST Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year will not be released until Wednesday.
This article was written by Zoe Comerford. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @zoe_comerford.
