Jerome Tang Previews Top-10 Matchup with Baylor
Jan 15, 2024 | Men's Basketball
The Wildcats and Bears will meet on Tuesday night at Bramlage Coliseum
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head men's basketball coach Jerome Tang met with the media on Monday afternoon (Jan. 15) to preview the Wildcats' top-10 matchup with No. 9/9 Baylor on Tuesday night at Bramlage Coliseum. Links to the audio and a transcript of Tang's availability are above.
K-State (12-4, 2-1 Big 12) begins a 2-game homestand with the matchup against the Bears (14-2, 3-0 Big 12), who are one of only 2 unbeaten Big 12 teams remaining after just 3 conference games. This will be the first matchup with a top-10 opponent and the 200th such meeting in school history. The Wildcats have 36 wins vs. ranked foes in the last 12 seasons, including 13 vs. the top-10 and 26 Top 25 home wins.
Tuesday's game will be the first and only regular-season meeting between the schools, snapping a 12-year streak of playing home-and-home every year since the 2011-12 season. The series is tied 25-all, but Baylor has a 24-20 advantage in the Big 12 era, including an 11-8 mark at Bramlage Coliseum.
Baylor is off to an impressive 14-2 start, including Big 12 wins over Oklahoma State, BYU and Cincinnati. The Bears are among the best offensive teams in the country, ranking first nationally in 3-point field goal percentage (42.2), fifth in field goal percentage (50.9), ninth in scoring margin (+17.2 ppg.) and 10th in scoring (86.1 ppg.). Four players are averaging in double figures led by freshman sensation Ja'Kobe Walter (15.3 ppg.) while senior transfer RayJ Dennis is averaging 13.8 points per game along with team-bests in assists (100) and steals (21).
A limited of tickets are available for Saturday's game through the Athletics Ticket Office by calling toll free at (800) 221.CATS (2287), by logging in online at www.kstatesports.com/tickets, and in-person at the main southwest Bramlage Coliseum ticket office.
HEAD COACH JEROME TANG
On the emotion in playing against his former team and head coach Drew Scott…
"Yeah, well, last year is the first game, right? Remember they had lost the first two games of conference so if we win that's a third loss in a row and I know what that does to the team, how the media gets after it and all of that and if we lose that's not a good thing, right, so there was just like it wasn't a good feeling going into that. Coach [Drew Scott] used to tell me in practice all the time, you know, we play basketball games against each other. These are competitors, you hate that it turns into L and it's a career thing or W, or whatever it is and so it's not how you prefer to do it but it's not like that was a reason to build up to it. The second time, them dudes are rolling, I mean they played the best 20 minutes of the season against Kansas in the first half, the second half they didn't play well, end up losing the game, but they were rolling, you knew that they were going to the tournament, that everything was fine. So it was like, you know, we want to win at home and it was a lot better the second time. This time both teams are doing well, they're a top 10 team in the country, I don't care what they're ranked, they're ridiculous and we got to play really really well. So, once again, it's no fun but I got to see him last night and hang out for a little while, they just signed a big time recruit, they're feeling really good. We got to win the game, that's what that thought process is."
On where the team needs to improve in conference play…
"I told you all our word this year, we're forging, take a piece of metal, turn it into a weapon, and I think if you look our last three games you'll say man 'they turned into something,' right, but we're not finished. We're not as sharp as we need to be, so there's a process. Our wall up there says 'iron sharpens iron.' As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another. Now it's time for them to start helping each other and sharpening each other and holding each other accountable, that's the process. When players start holding each other accountable, taking ownership of it you improve a long way. We felt like we gave one away to Texas Tech and I think when they watched the film they see and so they coach each other through it and talk about it. And when they're, as a team, they are willing to take it from each other, that says a lot. And in the sharpening process, we've done the forging pounding, you know, heat and all that process, but now it's the sharpening, like tightening things up. In that process, the blade loses a piece of itself, you got to get rid of some of that metal to get a fine tip blade, you gotta get rid of some of yourself in order to be as sharp as you need to be. And that's the process we're in right now and so it hopefully, results in us defending a little bit better with better communication and us not turning the ball over by hitting singles. And then finishing plays with two hand rebounds, that we don't get tipped away, all the details of it. So I like where we're going and I think we're headed in the right direction. I like where we're at right now. And you can do all those things in this league and still not win, so that's part of it."
On Baylor ranking first in 3-point percentage…
"Well they got really good players and then they get the ball to the paint and then they find the open shooter, they make the defense shrink and find the open shooter. RayJ [Dennis] is as good as a point guard as there is in the country, Ja' Kobe Walter's is the top five projected pick, Langston Love makes shots and [Jalen] Bridges is shooting the ball way better, and you got [Jayden] Nunn who's I mean, they've got dudes, like, multiple of them who can do it. But they do a really good job of taking the right shots, right? They move the ball and take the right, they rarely take out of character shots. That's what helps them."
On learning from the mistakes playing against Texas Tech…
"Yeah, that's all part of it, you wish you could do it through a win, you know, learn through a win, that was a great road environment, right. I think that was the first time we'd really faced a real road environment and I loved how our guys responded, we were down, the crowd was going crazy, we locked down, got focused and made a great run. Every time in the second half they made a run at us we responded, you know, quieted the crowd, we just didn't finish the last 3:20 that we were supposed to. And so yeah I saw there was definitely a lot of growth there. But this league just does that to ya, like the coaches, players, you have to keep getting better and I feel like we are doing that."
How to follow the 'Cats: For complete information on K-State men's basketball, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.
K-State (12-4, 2-1 Big 12) begins a 2-game homestand with the matchup against the Bears (14-2, 3-0 Big 12), who are one of only 2 unbeaten Big 12 teams remaining after just 3 conference games. This will be the first matchup with a top-10 opponent and the 200th such meeting in school history. The Wildcats have 36 wins vs. ranked foes in the last 12 seasons, including 13 vs. the top-10 and 26 Top 25 home wins.
Tuesday's game will be the first and only regular-season meeting between the schools, snapping a 12-year streak of playing home-and-home every year since the 2011-12 season. The series is tied 25-all, but Baylor has a 24-20 advantage in the Big 12 era, including an 11-8 mark at Bramlage Coliseum.
Baylor is off to an impressive 14-2 start, including Big 12 wins over Oklahoma State, BYU and Cincinnati. The Bears are among the best offensive teams in the country, ranking first nationally in 3-point field goal percentage (42.2), fifth in field goal percentage (50.9), ninth in scoring margin (+17.2 ppg.) and 10th in scoring (86.1 ppg.). Four players are averaging in double figures led by freshman sensation Ja'Kobe Walter (15.3 ppg.) while senior transfer RayJ Dennis is averaging 13.8 points per game along with team-bests in assists (100) and steals (21).
A limited of tickets are available for Saturday's game through the Athletics Ticket Office by calling toll free at (800) 221.CATS (2287), by logging in online at www.kstatesports.com/tickets, and in-person at the main southwest Bramlage Coliseum ticket office.
HEAD COACH JEROME TANG
On the emotion in playing against his former team and head coach Drew Scott…
"Yeah, well, last year is the first game, right? Remember they had lost the first two games of conference so if we win that's a third loss in a row and I know what that does to the team, how the media gets after it and all of that and if we lose that's not a good thing, right, so there was just like it wasn't a good feeling going into that. Coach [Drew Scott] used to tell me in practice all the time, you know, we play basketball games against each other. These are competitors, you hate that it turns into L and it's a career thing or W, or whatever it is and so it's not how you prefer to do it but it's not like that was a reason to build up to it. The second time, them dudes are rolling, I mean they played the best 20 minutes of the season against Kansas in the first half, the second half they didn't play well, end up losing the game, but they were rolling, you knew that they were going to the tournament, that everything was fine. So it was like, you know, we want to win at home and it was a lot better the second time. This time both teams are doing well, they're a top 10 team in the country, I don't care what they're ranked, they're ridiculous and we got to play really really well. So, once again, it's no fun but I got to see him last night and hang out for a little while, they just signed a big time recruit, they're feeling really good. We got to win the game, that's what that thought process is."
On where the team needs to improve in conference play…
"I told you all our word this year, we're forging, take a piece of metal, turn it into a weapon, and I think if you look our last three games you'll say man 'they turned into something,' right, but we're not finished. We're not as sharp as we need to be, so there's a process. Our wall up there says 'iron sharpens iron.' As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another. Now it's time for them to start helping each other and sharpening each other and holding each other accountable, that's the process. When players start holding each other accountable, taking ownership of it you improve a long way. We felt like we gave one away to Texas Tech and I think when they watched the film they see and so they coach each other through it and talk about it. And when they're, as a team, they are willing to take it from each other, that says a lot. And in the sharpening process, we've done the forging pounding, you know, heat and all that process, but now it's the sharpening, like tightening things up. In that process, the blade loses a piece of itself, you got to get rid of some of that metal to get a fine tip blade, you gotta get rid of some of yourself in order to be as sharp as you need to be. And that's the process we're in right now and so it hopefully, results in us defending a little bit better with better communication and us not turning the ball over by hitting singles. And then finishing plays with two hand rebounds, that we don't get tipped away, all the details of it. So I like where we're going and I think we're headed in the right direction. I like where we're at right now. And you can do all those things in this league and still not win, so that's part of it."
On Baylor ranking first in 3-point percentage…
"Well they got really good players and then they get the ball to the paint and then they find the open shooter, they make the defense shrink and find the open shooter. RayJ [Dennis] is as good as a point guard as there is in the country, Ja' Kobe Walter's is the top five projected pick, Langston Love makes shots and [Jalen] Bridges is shooting the ball way better, and you got [Jayden] Nunn who's I mean, they've got dudes, like, multiple of them who can do it. But they do a really good job of taking the right shots, right? They move the ball and take the right, they rarely take out of character shots. That's what helps them."
On learning from the mistakes playing against Texas Tech…
"Yeah, that's all part of it, you wish you could do it through a win, you know, learn through a win, that was a great road environment, right. I think that was the first time we'd really faced a real road environment and I loved how our guys responded, we were down, the crowd was going crazy, we locked down, got focused and made a great run. Every time in the second half they made a run at us we responded, you know, quieted the crowd, we just didn't finish the last 3:20 that we were supposed to. And so yeah I saw there was definitely a lot of growth there. But this league just does that to ya, like the coaches, players, you have to keep getting better and I feel like we are doing that."
How to follow the 'Cats: For complete information on K-State men's basketball, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.
K-State Men's Basketball | Postgame Press Conference at Texas Tech
Sunday, February 22
K-State Men's Basketball | Haggerty and Johnson Historic Night vs Baylor
Thursday, February 19
K-State Men's Basketball | Interim Head Coach Driscoll Press Conference vs Baylor
Wednesday, February 18
K-State Men's Basketball | Press Conference vs Baylor
Wednesday, February 18
