‘The Toughest Team is Going to Win’
Mar 25, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
One year has passed since Jerome Tang proclaimed, "It's a great day to be Wildcat!" and said that he didn't arrive at Kansas State to "rebuild" but instead to "elevate" the men's basketball program.
The first-year Division I basketball head coach is 40 minutes from taking K-State to its first Final Four in nearly six decades. All that the third-seeded Wildcats, 26-9, must do is defeat No. 9-seed Florida Atlantic, 34-3, in Saturday's East Regional Final at Madison Square Garden. Tipoff is slated for 5:09 p.m. and will be televised on TBS.
The Wildcats have come a long, long way in a short amount of time.
"I don't know if I can fully process all of that," said Tang, a finalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year award. "This wonderful book that I read, it says that the power of life and death are in the tongue, and we have the ability to speak life to people or speak death to people. Everyone talks about positive thinking — it's right there in the scripture.
"I can't tell you that I thought about what I was saying at that time, but I do believe that it was the spirit of God speaking through me, and therefore it inspired me to live those words that were spoken."
K-State comes off one of the all-time NCAA Tournament instant classics with a 98-93 overtime win over seventh-seed Michigan State on Thursday. That same night, Florida Atlantic took down No. 4-seed Tennessee by a score of 62-55.
While K-State, the high-major team that was picked last in the Big 12 Conference, has been a feel-good story of the tournament, Florida Atlantic is the mid-major program filling Cinderella's slippers quite nicely in March. Prior to this season, the Owls had never won a NCAA Tournament game. Now they've won three in a row, including wins over No. 8-seed Memphis (66-65) and 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson (78-70) before mounting a comeback victory over the Volunteers.
"If you just took the names off the front of the jerseys and lined them up against anybody in America, you'd say they're a high-major team," Tang said. "They are, they're a high-major team, and they're high-major competitors, too. They're tough and together, as connected of a team as there is in the country. I've been super impressed with what I've seen."
K-State appears pretty well-connected also.
"Elite Eight, basically we just have to keep it going and really just stick together," K-State forward Keyontae Johnson said. "The toughest team is going to win, the most connected team is going to win this game, and I feel like that's what we do best.
"We should come out with a W."
Entering the NCAA Tournament, only 2.2% of anyone filling out a bracket picked Florida Atlantic to make it to the Elite Eight, according to the school.
"We were on the verge (of the NCAA Tournament) last year," Florida Atlantic head coach Dusty May said. "We won 19 games. We felt like we had a 20-25 win team last year if we just clean up a few possessions. We never envisioned this, but we knew we had a special group if we cleaned up a few things and we'd have a chance to win a lot more games."
Florida Atlantic averages 78.0 points on 46.6% shooting, including 36.5% on 3-pointers, with 38.9 rebounds, 14.6 assists, 6.5 steals and 2.5 blocks. The Owls allow 64.8 points on 40% shooting, including 31.4% on 3-pointers. They rank top-25 nationally in nine categories, including second in bench points (33.65), seventh in scoring margin (plus-13.1), ninth in defensive rebounds (28.1), 17th in field-goal percentage defense (40.0%), and 25th in effective field-goal percentage (54.7%).
Three players average double figures led by All-Conference USA first-team selections Johnell Davis (13.9) and Alijah Martin (13.0). Davis shoots 49.6%, including 37.8% on 3-pointers, and Martin leads seven players in double-figure 3-pointers with 67 and shoots 36.8% from beyond the arc.
Vladislav Goldin averages 10.2 points on 63% shooting and 6.4 rebounds.
"Man, 'Nelly Davis, what a player," Tang said. "He has NBA feet. He has NBA balance. He's a special athlete with a great feel for the game. All the guards are terrific. They can all shoot, dribble and pass. They're quick and athletic and defend. They're super impressive to watch.
"(Goldin) is a Big 12 center. He was at Texas Tech and he's every bit of 7-foot-1 and he's strong and physical and can catch and finish, and he protects the rim. He does a great job in ball screen coverage and he's as good as anybody we've faced this year."
While Keyontae Johnson leads K-State with 17.7 points and 6.9 rebounds, focus by Florida Atlantic also quickly shifts to Markquis Nowell, who recorded one of the great NCAA Tournament performances against the Spartans with 20 points and a NCAA Tournament-record 19 assists.
"Obviously, they're a very talented group," Florida Atlantic guard Bryan Greenless said. "From what I saw (Thursday) just by watching the game in person, they've got a floor general as a point guard who can get everyone involved, and Keyontae Johnson is obviously like a freak athlete and very aggressive. We're just going to trust the scout, lock into what we see on film and what the coaches tell us to do, and just execute that the best we can."
K-State has maximum respect for the Owls.
"They're obviously here for a reason," K-State forward Ismael Massoud said. "They won 34 games and that doesn't happen by accident. They're obviously well coached, have a great team, great team chemistry. They shoot the ball really well. So like Coach Tang said, it's going to be a 40-minute war."
Tang came to K-State after 19 ultra-successful years as assistant/associate head coach at Baylor with 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, five Sweet 16s and a 2021 NCAA Championship.
He is the sixth head coach since 1985 to reach the Elite Eight in his first season as a Division I head coach.
"When you lose, your season is over," he said. "There's no way to describe it. It's such an abrupt end. You've got guys that you're never going to be with again. It's not a great feeling.
"But when you win, it's exhilaration. It's something you've worked so hard for."
On Saturday, K-State works to go someplace it hasn't been in 59 years.
The Final Four.
One year has passed since Jerome Tang proclaimed, "It's a great day to be Wildcat!" and said that he didn't arrive at Kansas State to "rebuild" but instead to "elevate" the men's basketball program.
The first-year Division I basketball head coach is 40 minutes from taking K-State to its first Final Four in nearly six decades. All that the third-seeded Wildcats, 26-9, must do is defeat No. 9-seed Florida Atlantic, 34-3, in Saturday's East Regional Final at Madison Square Garden. Tipoff is slated for 5:09 p.m. and will be televised on TBS.
The Wildcats have come a long, long way in a short amount of time.
"I don't know if I can fully process all of that," said Tang, a finalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year award. "This wonderful book that I read, it says that the power of life and death are in the tongue, and we have the ability to speak life to people or speak death to people. Everyone talks about positive thinking — it's right there in the scripture.
"I can't tell you that I thought about what I was saying at that time, but I do believe that it was the spirit of God speaking through me, and therefore it inspired me to live those words that were spoken."
K-State comes off one of the all-time NCAA Tournament instant classics with a 98-93 overtime win over seventh-seed Michigan State on Thursday. That same night, Florida Atlantic took down No. 4-seed Tennessee by a score of 62-55.
While K-State, the high-major team that was picked last in the Big 12 Conference, has been a feel-good story of the tournament, Florida Atlantic is the mid-major program filling Cinderella's slippers quite nicely in March. Prior to this season, the Owls had never won a NCAA Tournament game. Now they've won three in a row, including wins over No. 8-seed Memphis (66-65) and 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson (78-70) before mounting a comeback victory over the Volunteers.
"If you just took the names off the front of the jerseys and lined them up against anybody in America, you'd say they're a high-major team," Tang said. "They are, they're a high-major team, and they're high-major competitors, too. They're tough and together, as connected of a team as there is in the country. I've been super impressed with what I've seen."
K-State appears pretty well-connected also.
"Elite Eight, basically we just have to keep it going and really just stick together," K-State forward Keyontae Johnson said. "The toughest team is going to win, the most connected team is going to win this game, and I feel like that's what we do best.
"We should come out with a W."
Entering the NCAA Tournament, only 2.2% of anyone filling out a bracket picked Florida Atlantic to make it to the Elite Eight, according to the school.
"We were on the verge (of the NCAA Tournament) last year," Florida Atlantic head coach Dusty May said. "We won 19 games. We felt like we had a 20-25 win team last year if we just clean up a few possessions. We never envisioned this, but we knew we had a special group if we cleaned up a few things and we'd have a chance to win a lot more games."
Florida Atlantic averages 78.0 points on 46.6% shooting, including 36.5% on 3-pointers, with 38.9 rebounds, 14.6 assists, 6.5 steals and 2.5 blocks. The Owls allow 64.8 points on 40% shooting, including 31.4% on 3-pointers. They rank top-25 nationally in nine categories, including second in bench points (33.65), seventh in scoring margin (plus-13.1), ninth in defensive rebounds (28.1), 17th in field-goal percentage defense (40.0%), and 25th in effective field-goal percentage (54.7%).
Three players average double figures led by All-Conference USA first-team selections Johnell Davis (13.9) and Alijah Martin (13.0). Davis shoots 49.6%, including 37.8% on 3-pointers, and Martin leads seven players in double-figure 3-pointers with 67 and shoots 36.8% from beyond the arc.
Vladislav Goldin averages 10.2 points on 63% shooting and 6.4 rebounds.
"Man, 'Nelly Davis, what a player," Tang said. "He has NBA feet. He has NBA balance. He's a special athlete with a great feel for the game. All the guards are terrific. They can all shoot, dribble and pass. They're quick and athletic and defend. They're super impressive to watch.
"(Goldin) is a Big 12 center. He was at Texas Tech and he's every bit of 7-foot-1 and he's strong and physical and can catch and finish, and he protects the rim. He does a great job in ball screen coverage and he's as good as anybody we've faced this year."
While Keyontae Johnson leads K-State with 17.7 points and 6.9 rebounds, focus by Florida Atlantic also quickly shifts to Markquis Nowell, who recorded one of the great NCAA Tournament performances against the Spartans with 20 points and a NCAA Tournament-record 19 assists.
"Obviously, they're a very talented group," Florida Atlantic guard Bryan Greenless said. "From what I saw (Thursday) just by watching the game in person, they've got a floor general as a point guard who can get everyone involved, and Keyontae Johnson is obviously like a freak athlete and very aggressive. We're just going to trust the scout, lock into what we see on film and what the coaches tell us to do, and just execute that the best we can."
K-State has maximum respect for the Owls.
"They're obviously here for a reason," K-State forward Ismael Massoud said. "They won 34 games and that doesn't happen by accident. They're obviously well coached, have a great team, great team chemistry. They shoot the ball really well. So like Coach Tang said, it's going to be a 40-minute war."
Tang came to K-State after 19 ultra-successful years as assistant/associate head coach at Baylor with 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, five Sweet 16s and a 2021 NCAA Championship.
He is the sixth head coach since 1985 to reach the Elite Eight in his first season as a Division I head coach.
"When you lose, your season is over," he said. "There's no way to describe it. It's such an abrupt end. You've got guys that you're never going to be with again. It's not a great feeling.
"But when you win, it's exhilaration. It's something you've worked so hard for."
On Saturday, K-State works to go someplace it hasn't been in 59 years.
The Final Four.
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