The Next Game on the Schedule
Jan 17, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Today is the Dillons Sunflower Showdown between No. 13 Kansas State and No. 2 Kansas. K-State head coach Jerome Tang calls it the next game. He stops short of calling it a rivalry — for now. He envisions taking steps toward a Big 12 Championship. He envisions taking steps toward a National Championship. This is one game. And K-State must do its part to make it a rivalry, he contends. He wears a purple t-shirt and black jogger pants and purple Nikes and sits in the team meeting room at the Ice Family Basketball Center and tells us exactly why.
"To me, a rivalry is when both teams are winning games and it's close, not just because one fan base doesn't like another fan base," he says at his Monday news conference. "To make it a rivalry, both sides got to do something. I don't know that we have made it a rivalry.
"That's what I'm here to do, to try and make this thing a rivalry."
Defending National Champion Kansas has won nine of the last 10 in the series, including each of the last seven. Kansas has won three straight in Manhattan since a 74-67 loss on February 5, 2019.
Bill Self is 39-6 against K-State. There have been 23 different head coaches at K-State. Only Frank Martin has defeated Kansas in his debut meeting against the Jayhawks.
Tang, 15-1 overall and 4-1 in the Big 12, is tied for the best start in K-State history. The former longtime assistant coach and associate head coach at Baylor, he has ample experience under head coach Scott Drew at playing the Jayhawks. They won three of their final six meetings against the Jayhawks before Tang's hiring at K-State on March 21.
Now Tang has brought winning back to Manhattan. And he has a message going forward.
"My message to our students, I don't want them to show up to the game and yell and scream and for our fans to show up to the game because they hate the other team. I want them to show up because they love Kansas State," he says. "Our guys, every guy on our roster, they didn't pick this school because they hated somebody else. They picked this school because they loved us as a staff, they loved the community and university."
He continues.
"I'd be real interested to see how we can really change this thing around if we're motivated by love, rather than by hate."
He continues.
"I feel like we, the Kansas State community and family, allow them to live rent-free in our heads way too much. This game is one game in the conference. If we win, we get one win. If we lose, we get one loss. That's it. I came to try and win a Big 12 Championship and win a National Championship. The year we won the (2021) National Championship, we split with these guys.
"Let's show up to the game because we love Kansas State. Let's show up to every game because we love Kansas State. Let's pack the Octagon of Doom because we love Kansas State, not because we hate somebody else."
There's energy that crackles within each word.
On Bill Self: "What I know about Coach Self is the reason he's a Hall-of-Famer is because he adapts offensively and defensively to the personnel he has and puts his team in the best position to be successful and win a championship. That's how they approach every year. That's the same way we're going to approach it."
On All-America candidate Jalen Wilson: "He has arguably the leader for conference player of the year and All-American, and he's one of just three Kansas players to average 20 points a game in however many years."
On K-State lacking energy against TCU: "We lacked energy, we lacked focus, we lacked a lot of things that game."
And here we are, talking about No. 13 K-State in ways that we couldn't have imagined back during the league's media day at T-Mobile Arena, back when the Wildcats were picked 10th in the Big 12, and back when reporters' notepads were filled with bravado from other Big 12 teams, yet noticeably absent of gushing sentiments regarding the squad that everybody counted out.
There they sat, Markquis Nowell, Keyontae Johnson and Nae'Qwan Tomlin, off in the corner, out of sight and out of mind, but when asked merely spoke about becoming a little bit better and shocking the league. And yes, consider the league shocked, as the Wildcats leaped from unranked to ranked unlike any league team in 33 years, and won four of their first five Big 12 games, including three against AP Top 25 teams — two of which were back-to-back contests against No. 6 Texas and No. 19 Baylor on the road.
And now K-State has a chance to take down No. 2 Kansas, 16-1 and 5-0, which owns the fifth-longest winning streak in the nation, and has pulled out four single-digit victories against Oklahoma State (69-67), at Texas Tech (75-72), and against Oklahoma (79-75).
And here we are on Tuesday and national reporters have decided to journey to Bramlage to witness Kansas and K-State — a team nobody can write off anymore. And here we are on Tuesday and the game that is circled inside the planners of K-State alums and that every K-State student lives for is finally here.
"We're not doing anything different than what we've done," Tang says. "We've worked every day in a way that would put us into a position to have a chance to win the Big 12 Championship and go to the NCAA Tournament. That's been the thing that we've talked about from the very beginning. We're not changing this.
"I know other people around, the fans, this might mean a little bit more, but this is the next game on the schedule."
From the top, when Tang calmly said "elevate" at his introductory news conference on March 24, the word provided the turnkey for alums and fans hopeful for change, while Tang's energetic signature phrase, "It's a great day to be a Wildcat!" is now as familiar around the Little Apple as the KS Hill.
"From the moment I showed up here, I felt like, 'Man, these folks are different,' and it was inspiring and it's made us as a staff just want to work harder to produce a product that they'll be excited about because our fans deserve it."
He continues.
"Let's prepare and work and do everything we can at a championship level to give us an opportunity to win," he says. "This is not like an overnight thing. This is about building a certain level of confidence and raising the standard of expectation. We've done that as a staff and with the players we've brought in. We're going to continue to do that, and then it's going to trickle to results on the floor."
And here we are on Tuesday and K-State is near the top of the mountain overlooking the top men's basketball conference in America. All is calm for now, but that, too, shall change, as a steady stream of headlights parade down College Avenue and Kimball Avenue to Tuesday's mecca of men's college basketball, where the nation will watch two of the top teams in the Big 12 square off in the sold-out Octagon of Doom, so eager to erupt.
Asked why it's important not to make this game bigger than any other on the schedule, Tang replies, "Because it's not."
"It doesn't win us a national championship," he adds. "It doesn't win us the Big 12. It doesn't guarantee us the NCAA Tournament. Nobody is getting drafted after this game. If you win this game and lose the next four, what good is it?
"It's the next game on the schedule."
Today is the Dillons Sunflower Showdown between No. 13 Kansas State and No. 2 Kansas. K-State head coach Jerome Tang calls it the next game. He stops short of calling it a rivalry — for now. He envisions taking steps toward a Big 12 Championship. He envisions taking steps toward a National Championship. This is one game. And K-State must do its part to make it a rivalry, he contends. He wears a purple t-shirt and black jogger pants and purple Nikes and sits in the team meeting room at the Ice Family Basketball Center and tells us exactly why.
"To me, a rivalry is when both teams are winning games and it's close, not just because one fan base doesn't like another fan base," he says at his Monday news conference. "To make it a rivalry, both sides got to do something. I don't know that we have made it a rivalry.
"That's what I'm here to do, to try and make this thing a rivalry."
Defending National Champion Kansas has won nine of the last 10 in the series, including each of the last seven. Kansas has won three straight in Manhattan since a 74-67 loss on February 5, 2019.
Bill Self is 39-6 against K-State. There have been 23 different head coaches at K-State. Only Frank Martin has defeated Kansas in his debut meeting against the Jayhawks.
Tang, 15-1 overall and 4-1 in the Big 12, is tied for the best start in K-State history. The former longtime assistant coach and associate head coach at Baylor, he has ample experience under head coach Scott Drew at playing the Jayhawks. They won three of their final six meetings against the Jayhawks before Tang's hiring at K-State on March 21.
Now Tang has brought winning back to Manhattan. And he has a message going forward.
"My message to our students, I don't want them to show up to the game and yell and scream and for our fans to show up to the game because they hate the other team. I want them to show up because they love Kansas State," he says. "Our guys, every guy on our roster, they didn't pick this school because they hated somebody else. They picked this school because they loved us as a staff, they loved the community and university."
He continues.
"I'd be real interested to see how we can really change this thing around if we're motivated by love, rather than by hate."
He continues.
"I feel like we, the Kansas State community and family, allow them to live rent-free in our heads way too much. This game is one game in the conference. If we win, we get one win. If we lose, we get one loss. That's it. I came to try and win a Big 12 Championship and win a National Championship. The year we won the (2021) National Championship, we split with these guys.
"Let's show up to the game because we love Kansas State. Let's show up to every game because we love Kansas State. Let's pack the Octagon of Doom because we love Kansas State, not because we hate somebody else."
There's energy that crackles within each word.
On Bill Self: "What I know about Coach Self is the reason he's a Hall-of-Famer is because he adapts offensively and defensively to the personnel he has and puts his team in the best position to be successful and win a championship. That's how they approach every year. That's the same way we're going to approach it."
On All-America candidate Jalen Wilson: "He has arguably the leader for conference player of the year and All-American, and he's one of just three Kansas players to average 20 points a game in however many years."
On K-State lacking energy against TCU: "We lacked energy, we lacked focus, we lacked a lot of things that game."
And here we are, talking about No. 13 K-State in ways that we couldn't have imagined back during the league's media day at T-Mobile Arena, back when the Wildcats were picked 10th in the Big 12, and back when reporters' notepads were filled with bravado from other Big 12 teams, yet noticeably absent of gushing sentiments regarding the squad that everybody counted out.
There they sat, Markquis Nowell, Keyontae Johnson and Nae'Qwan Tomlin, off in the corner, out of sight and out of mind, but when asked merely spoke about becoming a little bit better and shocking the league. And yes, consider the league shocked, as the Wildcats leaped from unranked to ranked unlike any league team in 33 years, and won four of their first five Big 12 games, including three against AP Top 25 teams — two of which were back-to-back contests against No. 6 Texas and No. 19 Baylor on the road.
And now K-State has a chance to take down No. 2 Kansas, 16-1 and 5-0, which owns the fifth-longest winning streak in the nation, and has pulled out four single-digit victories against Oklahoma State (69-67), at Texas Tech (75-72), and against Oklahoma (79-75).
And here we are on Tuesday and national reporters have decided to journey to Bramlage to witness Kansas and K-State — a team nobody can write off anymore. And here we are on Tuesday and the game that is circled inside the planners of K-State alums and that every K-State student lives for is finally here.
"We're not doing anything different than what we've done," Tang says. "We've worked every day in a way that would put us into a position to have a chance to win the Big 12 Championship and go to the NCAA Tournament. That's been the thing that we've talked about from the very beginning. We're not changing this.
"I know other people around, the fans, this might mean a little bit more, but this is the next game on the schedule."
From the top, when Tang calmly said "elevate" at his introductory news conference on March 24, the word provided the turnkey for alums and fans hopeful for change, while Tang's energetic signature phrase, "It's a great day to be a Wildcat!" is now as familiar around the Little Apple as the KS Hill.
"From the moment I showed up here, I felt like, 'Man, these folks are different,' and it was inspiring and it's made us as a staff just want to work harder to produce a product that they'll be excited about because our fans deserve it."
He continues.
"Let's prepare and work and do everything we can at a championship level to give us an opportunity to win," he says. "This is not like an overnight thing. This is about building a certain level of confidence and raising the standard of expectation. We've done that as a staff and with the players we've brought in. We're going to continue to do that, and then it's going to trickle to results on the floor."
And here we are on Tuesday and K-State is near the top of the mountain overlooking the top men's basketball conference in America. All is calm for now, but that, too, shall change, as a steady stream of headlights parade down College Avenue and Kimball Avenue to Tuesday's mecca of men's college basketball, where the nation will watch two of the top teams in the Big 12 square off in the sold-out Octagon of Doom, so eager to erupt.
Asked why it's important not to make this game bigger than any other on the schedule, Tang replies, "Because it's not."
"It doesn't win us a national championship," he adds. "It doesn't win us the Big 12. It doesn't guarantee us the NCAA Tournament. Nobody is getting drafted after this game. If you win this game and lose the next four, what good is it?
"It's the next game on the schedule."
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