NCAA First Round Game - Loyola vs. Miami. Photo courtesy of Steve Woltmann.
As the Cinderella team of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, No. 11-seeded Loyola-Chicago heads to the Final Four in San Antonio this Saturday (March 31), one Rambler stands out above the rest: Marques Townes. Here are 10 interesting facts to know about New Jersey’s own star point guard.
- Townes stands tall at 6 foot 4, much like Dwayne Wade.
- His father gave Townes the nickname ‘Farco’ and it’s still used by some of his friends.
- He initially began his high school hoops career at Cardinal McCarrick in South Amboy, where he averaged 19 points per game, before transferring to St. Joseph’s High School in Metuchen.
- Townes – sounds familiar right? You may be thinking of Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Although Marques and Karl-Anthony have similar last names, are both from Edison and share Dominican heritage, there is no familial connection between the two.
- We’ve already established that Marques Townes and Karl-Anthony Towns are not related – but they wereteammates at St. Joe’s (along with Wade Baldwin IV) and helped their team win New Jersey’s 2014 Tournament of Champions.
- Townes finished his high school career at St. Joe’s with 1,863 points, making him the second-highest scorer in school history, behind former Duke star and Bulls guard, Jay Williams.
- Townes not only played basketball in high school, but excelled on the football field as well, doubling as a linebacker and running back.
- He made waves for two seasons as a Knight at Fairleigh Dickinson University from 2014 to 2016 before transferring to Loyola University in Chicago, IL in the fall of 2016.
- As a Knight, he led the team to its first-ever New Jersey Tournament of Champions title in 2016.
- As Loyola’s point guard, Townes was instrumental in helping the team advance to the Elite Eight in this year’s NCAA tournament with a final three-pointer against Nevada. This hasn’t happened for the Ramblers since 1963!
In Saturday’s game, the Ramblers face the No. 3 seed, the Michigan Wolverines.
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