StaTuesday: Howard closing in on Marquette scoring record

Published Feb. 26, 2019 2:02 p.m. ET

There have been many great players to don a Marquette uniform.

Markus Howard, all 5-foot-11 of him, could well stand head and shoulders atop all of them. At least, in terms of scoring.

The junior guard recently became the sixth player top 1,700 points in Marquette history and quickly shot up to No. 3 on the Golden Eagles' all-time list.

Howard is just 199 points behind Jerel McNeal, who has the most points for Marquette. The Golden Eagles have four regular-season games remaining plus the Big East and NCAA tournaments. Howard is averaging 25.3 points per game this season, meaning he'd need to play in eight games -- and continue that average -- to displace McNeal at No. 1.

That's not too far-fetched, especially if the Golden Eagles can keep moving on in the postseason tournaments.

Howard has scored at least 30 points on eight occasions this season and over his last nine games is averaging 27.0 points (averaging that amount over seven games would leave him 10 points shy of McNeal).

There seems little question that at the very least Howard will pass Lazar Hayward for second place, and that it will occur before the end of the regular season.

MARQUETTE ALL-TIME POINTS LEADERS

PLAYER	YEARS	POINTS	PPG
Jerel McNeal	2005-09	1,985	15.3
Lazar Hayward	2006-10	1,859	13.5
Markus Howard	2017-	1,786	19.4
George Thompson	1966-69	1,733	20.4
Dominic James	2005-09	1,749	13.6
Butch Lee	1974-78	1,735	15.1

Entering Tuesday's games, Howard is tied for fifth in the nation in points per game with Hampton's Jermaine Marrow. Like Marrow, the others ahead of Howard come from mid-majors: Campbell's Chris Clemons (30.1 ppg), Hofstra's Justin Wright-Foreman (26.6), Detroit Mercy's Antoine Davis (26.3) and South Dakota State's Mike Daum (25.8).

Seton Hall's Myles Powell (21.9) is Howard's closest competitor in the Big East.

Not many players have scored like Howard has in the Big East, no matter the iteration of the conference. Howard could become just the eighth Big East player to average at least 25 points per game over a single season.

PLAYER	SCHOOL	YEAR	PPG
Doug McDermott	Creighton	2013-14	26.7
Dan Callandrillo	Seton Hall	1981-82	25.8
Eric Murdock	Providence	1990-91	25.6
Quincy Douby	Rutgers	2005-06	25.4
Markus Howard	Marquette	2018-19	25.3
Troy Bell	BC	2002-03	25.2
Donyell Marshall	UConn	1993-94	25.1
Allen Iverson	Georgetown	1995-96	25.0

Howard also leads the Big East in 3-pointers (99; also ninth in the NCAA), 3-point field-goal percentage (43.6), free throws (173; seventh in NCAA) and free-throw percentage (91.5, third in NCAA).

Another record Howard could set is for made 3s, although it will take some work. He's 26 behind Andrew Rowsey's mark of 126 set last year.

But based on the way Howard has been playing, we wouldn't count him out.