Marquette Men’s Basketball: Markus Howard Listed As Doubtful Against St. John’s

Late in the first half against Creighton on Saturday night, Marquette sophomore guard Markus Howard suffered a hard fall to the floor after being fouled on a layup attempt. He stayed prone for a long time, and was eventually helped off the court and was not putting any weight on his right leg.

We now have an update on his condition.

According to our source’s best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend who heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the girl who saw Markus Howard pass out at Qdoba last night. I guess it’s pretty serious.

No, I’m kidding. Shoutout to John Hughes.

Marquette announced that Markus Howard has a right hip contusion (that’s a bruise in non-fancy medical talk) and is listed as doubtful for MU’s home game against St. John’s on Wednesday night.

Howard is averaging 21.3 points (2nd best in the Big East), 3.1 rebounds, and 2.8 assists this season after tallying six points and one helper before his injury against the Bluejays. He went for 18 points, six rebounds, and two assists against St. John’s back on February 10th in New York, and given that the Golden Eagles had no answer for Shamorie Ponds (44 points on 16-of-23 shooting) in that game, it’s safe to say that Marquette will miss Howard’s offensive abilities on Wednesday night if he’s not able to play.

It remains to be seen how the coaching staff will address defending the Red Storm, most notably Ponds, with or without Howard in the lineup. Marquette’s shift to a zone defense in the second half against Creighton worked incredibly well, but if St. John’s is going to be a one man show again, it’s hard to say how much that a zone will affect Ponds. Gut instinct would be “not much” after he went 4-of-7 on threes against the Golden Eagles in the first encounter, and the fact that he’s shooting 14-of-28 (50%) on threes during the near-miracle run that St. John’s is on definitely makes you ignore Ponds’ season long average of just 26% from distance.

Howard will continue to be evaluated and treated between now and Wednesday night, but for now, it seems unlikely that he’ll be able to get out on the court. Marquette sits at 6-8 in Big East action right now and 15-11 overall, and the Golden Eagles likely need to win all four of their remaining regular season contests in order to be in contention for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.