Markell Johnson has been suspended indefinitely from the NC State men's basketball team for a violation of the Student-Athlete Code of Conduct, NC State Athletics announced in a press release Saturday. The suspension will begin with Saturday's matchup against UNC-Greensboro. We have no further details on his suspension at this time.

Markell Johnson suspended from NC State Basketball team due to violation of Code of Conduct. No announcement on length of suspension. pic.twitter.com/ydhBLl7Rdz — Pack Pride (@PackPride) December 16, 2017

Johnson has been a pivotal performer for the Wolfpack early in the season in starting at point guard. While he only ranks sixth on the team with 8.7 points per game, he leads the team by a large margin with 6.6 assists per game and 2.4 steals per game, and was shooting a respectable 45.5 percent from the floor and 39.3 percent from 3-point range. He was also third on the team with 27 minutes per game, so look for other guys to step up in his absence.

The prime candidate to fill Johnson's void is Braxton Beverly, who will likely take over his spot at point guard for the Pack. Beverly has started at the 2-guard in the four previous games and is seeing the floor for 26.6 minutes per game, so his playing time might not increase too much, but he will almost certainly see a bigger role at his natural point guard spot. On the year, Beverly is fifth with 8.8 PPG and second only to Johnson with 3.3 assists per game.

Now that Abdul-Malik Abu is healthy, he will make his first start of the season against UNC-Greensboro. Kevin Keatts has decided to go with a bigger lineup in starting both Abu and Lennard Freeman. However, it remains to be seen how much time Abu will see, especially in nonconference games like this one, as he gets eased back onto the floor following his injuries

Lavar Batts will almost certainly see an uptick in playing time now that he will be the only other true point guard active outside of Beverly. Batts has only averaged 14.6 minutes per game -- the only active scholarship player with fewer minutes is Shaun Kirk -- so with one less point guard in nonconference play, expect to see a lot more of Batts moving forward.

While he isn't getting his starting job back, Sam Hunt could potentially see more playing time, especially if/when State goes into its standard four-guard sets. Hunt started the first six games before Beverly ultimately usurped him in the lineup. Primarily a 3-point threat, Hunt is averaging 6 PPG on 35.3 percent from the field and 34.1 percent from beyond the arc.

We will update you with more information on Johnson as soon as it is available to us.