While trick plays are pretty common in sports like football, it’s a little harder to pull off that same sort of trickery in a fast-paced game like basketball. But the Kansas State Wildcats appeared to do it Thursday night on the biggest stage in college basketball.
At a crucial moment in Thursday night’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 game against the Michigan State Spartans, Kansas State pulled off an incredible alley-oop with the help of what appeared to be a staged argument.
The back-and-forth game ultimately went to overtime, and that’s where Kansas State pulled out the trick play. As point guard Markquis Nowell took the ball across the half-court line, he looked over at head coach Jerome Tang on the sideline. The two appeared to have some sort of debate, exchanging some words and hand gestures.
But midway through their “argument” about the play call, Nowell suddenly picked the ball up and threw it toward the basketball where teammate Keyontae Johnson had snuck behind the defense for an alley-oop slam.
Markquis Nowell is now tied for most assists ALL TIME in an NCAA Tournament game (18). 😱#MarchMadness @KStateMBB pic.twitter.com/JtQ9mlrsKv
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 24, 2023
The play went absolutely viral on social media as college basketball fans noticed the shocking bit of trickery from the Wildcats.
LOVE how Nowell and the coach pretend to argue, the defender falls asleep and BOOM
This was with 1 min left 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/y9mZ99Q4t7
— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) March 24, 2023
Imagine having a coach creative enough to dial up a fake call a play to distract the defense lob play. Unreal. https://t.co/NvdeOFy50q
— Adam (@adamg1224) March 24, 2023
I don’t know what truth is cooler… This fake argument then alley-oop was planned and it worked…. Or it’s a real argument and Nowell still saw the back door pass alley-oop. https://t.co/QoTigdvFfm
— Curtis Fitzpatrick (@cfitzfox) March 24, 2023
Final minute of an OT thriller and K-State went with fake argue-half court lob. Madness! https://t.co/JOFOTVy7VZ
— Sean Melmer (@seanmelmer) March 24, 2023
Rope-a-dope. Great play design & execution https://t.co/t0wL7kVaRb
— Jake Hatch (Yawk) jakehatch.bsky.social (@JacobCHatch) March 24, 2023
This is the best play in college basketball history https://t.co/ZQbzAk9Nmf
— Lance Hartzler (@lance_hartz) March 24, 2023
It worked perfectly, but after the game, Tang claimed that it was not a fake, after all, according to Richard Johnson.
Spoke to Jerome Tang about this after the game: this wasn't a dummy call or a fake out. Tang was calling one thing and Nowell was calling something else. Nowell noticed Johnson out of the corner of his eye and threw the alley oop because of their connection. https://t.co/OfF12jYdyl
— Richard🇬🇾Johnson (human) (@RJ_cfb) March 24, 2023
“Spoke to Jerome Tang about this after the game: this wasn’t a dummy call or a fake out. Tang was calling one thing and Nowell was calling something else. Nowell noticed Johnson out of the corner of his eye and threw the alley oop because of their connection,” Johnson said in a tweet.
However, not many believed this explanation.
— Zach Osterman (@ZachOsterman) March 24, 2023
— Benjamin Zweiman (@BenZweimanDKN) March 24, 2023
Lying so they can use the play again pic.twitter.com/riJXJeG6Zd
— BetOnline (@BetOnline_ag) March 24, 2023
— Ollie McClellan (@OllieMcClellan) March 24, 2023
Either way, it was an incredible play at a crucial moment and helped Nowell make history.
