‘Heightened Sense of Urgency’ Leads to Big Home Win
Feb 08, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Where were you Tuesday at 10:12 p.m.? Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang was a lavender blur, high-tailing it from the basketball court, and bobbing up and down with the clarinet section in the pep band, jamming, Wabashing, in the thick of it, arms waving, hands clapping, as the student section cheered, and the Octagon of Doom rocked like many times before. Except this time was different. For a moment, it was a big exhale after what seemed to be a long, emotional journey, which really was just a few days in length, but a long few days, nonetheless.
Tang doesn't enjoy being angry. But he was absolutely livid at how the Wildcats let one slip against No. 10 Texas on Saturday. He was angry at himself. He was angry at his coaching staff. He was angry at his players. And he was angry that they let their fans down. On Tuesday night, K-State became K-State again. And it was beautiful to see.
No. 12 K-State 82, No. 17 TCU 61.
"Success," Tang says, "has a way of making people relax and it takes away a little bit of your edge."
K-State regained its edge because it's what Tang demanded. His goal is that someday soon, the drive will come from the upperclassmen, not him, but it's a step, another step in a season-long journey for these Wildcats, who sit at 19-5 overall and 7-4 in the Big 12 Conference with seven regular-season games left to go.
K-State needed this one. It needed it bad. It had been 17 days since the Wildcats tasted sweet victory over a Big 12 opponent. K-State lost at No. 12 Iowa State, beat Florida in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, then fell at No. 8 Kansas before a 69-66 loss to the Longhorns marked the Wildcats' first defeat at home this season. The league is tough, understand, perhaps the toughest league since the Big East in the 1980s. Six Big 12 teams are ranked in the top 19 in the AP 25 Poll for a fourth straight week and 44% of league contests decided by five or fewer points.
Every night is a rock fight.
"You look around the league," Tang says. "Teams win a couple games and people think they're on a roll, and the dudes we play against are really, really good, and then you go into their environment to play, or they're coming to ours, and yeah, it's tough. It's really tough."
The Wildcats, picked 10th in the Big 12, still remain one of the better stories in college basketball this season, how they tied for their second-best start in 50 years, how they took down the Longhorns in Austin, how they outlasted Baylor in Waco, how they put an end to a seven-game skid against the Jayhawks in Manhattan. None of this was expected, understand, except the Wildcats learned to expect to win, and reestablished a standard that had yellowed in recent years.
And now? K-State has five top-25 victories, tied for second most ever in a single season and most since 2014-15.
They were Cinderella and now they're a projected four seed in the NCAA Tournament, a squad together for less than seven months, a team we'll talk about for years. They're cutting their teeth, really, just getting started in the grand scheme, growing up before our eyes. And boy, does last season seem like a distant memory, and boy, too, does the island heat from the Caymans in November seem a world away from the heat today in the Octagon of Doom, where students Wabash, cheerleaders tumble, and opponents, more times than not, crumble.
Such was the case Tuesday night.
Everything seemed to change.
Nothing really changed at all.
"We were picked to finish last in the league," Tang says. "We can still finish last in the league. We haven't accomplished anything. I'm a first-year head coach. People looked at my staff and said we can't coach. Nothing has changed. The reason why we're successful is because we play with love and joy and with a chip on our shoulder. Nothing should change. My job is to make sure that nothing changes. My hope is that it can come from inside the locker room rather than outside the locker room."
On Tuesday night, it came from within. The Wildcats were hungry. They were determined. They appeared to be anything but the squad that had lost three straight league games. Tang might be a first-year Division I head coach, but he knows the DNA of championship teams. And his anger struck. And it struck hard. And so K-State went through its toughest couple days all season. The Wildcats very well might look back on this as their defining moment, how they responded to their coach, and how they answered the bell, and how they protected home court in an unrelenting league when a team 100% must be at its best to survive.
"I don't mind being the bad guy and I can do it every single day and it wouldn't bother me one bit, but it wouldn't be very fun for (players), and my staff wouldn't like me very much," Tang says. "You hope that you have older guys and guys who understand the importance of — where the drive comes from within the locker room rather than from the coaching staff. But I really felt they needed that from me.
"Everybody up and down the hallway and in the locker room and the gym and film room, everybody was on eggshells these last few days on purpose, because there needed to be a heightened sense of urgency."
And there was a heightened sense of urgency. And it was everywhere. Loose balls. Tapped passes. Rolled ankles. Scratched faces. It wasn't always pretty but there was beauty in the hustle. The Wildcats were balling. Seething. Scoring and scrapping. They would not lose at home. Not on this night. Markquis Nowell had 18 points and hit a couple 3-pointers from Abilene. He added seven assists, which gave him 187 this season, which allowed him to pass the great Steve Henson for most assists in single-season history. There was Keyontae Johnson, who overcame foul trouble to deliver 14 points and seven rebounds. There was Desi Sills, who scored 14 points and rebounded, dished out assists, stole passes, blocked shots, and dove on the floor so many times. And there was Tykei Green, who approached Tang on Monday, asked him how he could contribute, and then poured in 13 points to go along with nine rebounds in his best game as a Wildcat.
"I told Tykei to just stay ready," Tang says. "Tonight, his opportunity came, and he was ready."
Most importantly, K-State was ready. And toward the end, it rolled.
The Wildcats pride themselves on playing like dogs, particularly in the final five minutes of each half. K-State led almost the entire game. It saw its 12-point lead shrink to 65-59 with 4 minutes, 49 seconds left to play. Then the Wildcats erupted. They finished the game on a 17-2 scoring run.
TCU tried to stop the momentum. The Horned Frogs called timeout. Then "Sandstorm" rang out across the arena. K-State students chanted: "K-S-U! K-S-U!" It was beautiful. All of it. And it was loud. And the lead grew. And it grew some more.
"I was really upset last game more because our fans did such a great job," Tang says. "I felt as a coach, I didn't have my team ready, and so today, to see our guys put that kind of effort out for 40 minutes, it showed how much they really appreciated our fans and what they bring to the table for us.
"This doesn't happen everywhere. We can't take this thing for granted."
After an emotional journey, the love returned on Tuesday night. And afterward, Tang raced into the middle of the K-State pep band, in the thick of it, Wabashing with the students. It was a great moment, seeing Tang smile.
The Wildcats got their much-needed win.
They find themselves in the thick of it in the nation's toughest league once again.
Where were you Tuesday at 10:12 p.m.? Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang was a lavender blur, high-tailing it from the basketball court, and bobbing up and down with the clarinet section in the pep band, jamming, Wabashing, in the thick of it, arms waving, hands clapping, as the student section cheered, and the Octagon of Doom rocked like many times before. Except this time was different. For a moment, it was a big exhale after what seemed to be a long, emotional journey, which really was just a few days in length, but a long few days, nonetheless.
Tang doesn't enjoy being angry. But he was absolutely livid at how the Wildcats let one slip against No. 10 Texas on Saturday. He was angry at himself. He was angry at his coaching staff. He was angry at his players. And he was angry that they let their fans down. On Tuesday night, K-State became K-State again. And it was beautiful to see.
No. 12 K-State 82, No. 17 TCU 61.
"Success," Tang says, "has a way of making people relax and it takes away a little bit of your edge."
K-State regained its edge because it's what Tang demanded. His goal is that someday soon, the drive will come from the upperclassmen, not him, but it's a step, another step in a season-long journey for these Wildcats, who sit at 19-5 overall and 7-4 in the Big 12 Conference with seven regular-season games left to go.
K-State needed this one. It needed it bad. It had been 17 days since the Wildcats tasted sweet victory over a Big 12 opponent. K-State lost at No. 12 Iowa State, beat Florida in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, then fell at No. 8 Kansas before a 69-66 loss to the Longhorns marked the Wildcats' first defeat at home this season. The league is tough, understand, perhaps the toughest league since the Big East in the 1980s. Six Big 12 teams are ranked in the top 19 in the AP 25 Poll for a fourth straight week and 44% of league contests decided by five or fewer points.
Every night is a rock fight.
"You look around the league," Tang says. "Teams win a couple games and people think they're on a roll, and the dudes we play against are really, really good, and then you go into their environment to play, or they're coming to ours, and yeah, it's tough. It's really tough."
The Wildcats, picked 10th in the Big 12, still remain one of the better stories in college basketball this season, how they tied for their second-best start in 50 years, how they took down the Longhorns in Austin, how they outlasted Baylor in Waco, how they put an end to a seven-game skid against the Jayhawks in Manhattan. None of this was expected, understand, except the Wildcats learned to expect to win, and reestablished a standard that had yellowed in recent years.
And now? K-State has five top-25 victories, tied for second most ever in a single season and most since 2014-15.
They were Cinderella and now they're a projected four seed in the NCAA Tournament, a squad together for less than seven months, a team we'll talk about for years. They're cutting their teeth, really, just getting started in the grand scheme, growing up before our eyes. And boy, does last season seem like a distant memory, and boy, too, does the island heat from the Caymans in November seem a world away from the heat today in the Octagon of Doom, where students Wabash, cheerleaders tumble, and opponents, more times than not, crumble.
Such was the case Tuesday night.
Everything seemed to change.
Nothing really changed at all.
"We were picked to finish last in the league," Tang says. "We can still finish last in the league. We haven't accomplished anything. I'm a first-year head coach. People looked at my staff and said we can't coach. Nothing has changed. The reason why we're successful is because we play with love and joy and with a chip on our shoulder. Nothing should change. My job is to make sure that nothing changes. My hope is that it can come from inside the locker room rather than outside the locker room."
On Tuesday night, it came from within. The Wildcats were hungry. They were determined. They appeared to be anything but the squad that had lost three straight league games. Tang might be a first-year Division I head coach, but he knows the DNA of championship teams. And his anger struck. And it struck hard. And so K-State went through its toughest couple days all season. The Wildcats very well might look back on this as their defining moment, how they responded to their coach, and how they answered the bell, and how they protected home court in an unrelenting league when a team 100% must be at its best to survive.
"I don't mind being the bad guy and I can do it every single day and it wouldn't bother me one bit, but it wouldn't be very fun for (players), and my staff wouldn't like me very much," Tang says. "You hope that you have older guys and guys who understand the importance of — where the drive comes from within the locker room rather than from the coaching staff. But I really felt they needed that from me.
"Everybody up and down the hallway and in the locker room and the gym and film room, everybody was on eggshells these last few days on purpose, because there needed to be a heightened sense of urgency."
And there was a heightened sense of urgency. And it was everywhere. Loose balls. Tapped passes. Rolled ankles. Scratched faces. It wasn't always pretty but there was beauty in the hustle. The Wildcats were balling. Seething. Scoring and scrapping. They would not lose at home. Not on this night. Markquis Nowell had 18 points and hit a couple 3-pointers from Abilene. He added seven assists, which gave him 187 this season, which allowed him to pass the great Steve Henson for most assists in single-season history. There was Keyontae Johnson, who overcame foul trouble to deliver 14 points and seven rebounds. There was Desi Sills, who scored 14 points and rebounded, dished out assists, stole passes, blocked shots, and dove on the floor so many times. And there was Tykei Green, who approached Tang on Monday, asked him how he could contribute, and then poured in 13 points to go along with nine rebounds in his best game as a Wildcat.
"I told Tykei to just stay ready," Tang says. "Tonight, his opportunity came, and he was ready."
Most importantly, K-State was ready. And toward the end, it rolled.
The Wildcats pride themselves on playing like dogs, particularly in the final five minutes of each half. K-State led almost the entire game. It saw its 12-point lead shrink to 65-59 with 4 minutes, 49 seconds left to play. Then the Wildcats erupted. They finished the game on a 17-2 scoring run.
TCU tried to stop the momentum. The Horned Frogs called timeout. Then "Sandstorm" rang out across the arena. K-State students chanted: "K-S-U! K-S-U!" It was beautiful. All of it. And it was loud. And the lead grew. And it grew some more.
"I was really upset last game more because our fans did such a great job," Tang says. "I felt as a coach, I didn't have my team ready, and so today, to see our guys put that kind of effort out for 40 minutes, it showed how much they really appreciated our fans and what they bring to the table for us.
"This doesn't happen everywhere. We can't take this thing for granted."
After an emotional journey, the love returned on Tuesday night. And afterward, Tang raced into the middle of the K-State pep band, in the thick of it, Wabashing with the students. It was a great moment, seeing Tang smile.
The Wildcats got their much-needed win.
They find themselves in the thick of it in the nation's toughest league once again.
Players Mentioned
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