NC State point guard Markell Johnson facing a felony assault charge

Now we know why NC State suspended point guard Markell Johnson—he was indicted for felonious assault in his hometown of Cleveland earlier this month, as the N&O’s Steve Wiseman reports. Johnson is one of four men indicted in the case, which stems from an incident in early October.

More details of Johnson’s case can be found here.

Johnson has missed three games after he was suspended prior to NC State’s game against UNC-Greensboro, and obviously his status with the team and the university are pending this court case.

This could spell the end of his basketball career at NC State, and at the very least, it looks like a return to uniform in the near-term is highly unlikely. He’ll be in Cleveland on Thursday for a pre-trial conference, along with the other three defendants in the case. Maybe we’ll learn more after that.

NC State begins ACC play at Clemson on Saturday afternoon.