Maturity and Belief

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Kansas State, which has spent the season forging, has sharpened itself into long sharp blade. For weeks, K-State head coach Jerome Tang has talked about forging, even wearing a t-shirt embedded with the seven-letter word. He has preached forging to his team, encouraging them to forge and sharpen and eventually form a weapon.

Today, K-State is a sizeable weapon in the ultra-competitive, crazy, nail-biting Big 12 Conference. The Wildcats proved as much in their come-from-behind 68-64 overtime victory against No. 9 Baylor at Bramlage Coliseum — a game in which ESPN's win probability had Baylor with an 83.2% chance of winning with the Bears ahead 64-59 with 1 minute, 12 seconds remaining in overtime.

The Wildcats forged on. They scored the final nine points in overtime. Arthur Kaluma converted a 4-point play with 20 seconds left, and Tylor Perry hit a pair of free throws with 6.9 seconds left and Bramlage was rocking, and the Bears ran out of answers, and the Wildcats improved to 5-0 in overtime games this season and 10-0 in overtime games under Tang. It's incredible to think about really, but if there's a recipe to the Wildcats' overtime success, it's this: Maturity and belief and what Tang loves to call "Five-to-Grind."

"Maturity, right?" Tang says. "Some older guys. Belief. Then we work on it every single day — 'Five-to-Grind.' That's what we call it. It's something our guys really take pride in."

Today, there's a lot of purple pride across Wildcat Nation. The heartbreaking 60-59 loss at Texas Tech on Saturday seems to be a distant memory swept away by the visions of RJ Jones hitting a crucial 3-pointer from the corner, Dorian Finister throwing down an alley-oop dunk, Kaluma backing up and nailing the NBA 3-pointer and getting fouled by Baylor freshman Ja'Kobe Walter, and Perry, the top free-throw shooter in the league, getting fouled and putting the game away with two shots.

"Stay the course," Perry says. "Baylor is a very good basketball team. We knew we couldn't panic, and we believe in what we do every day. This is something we practice every day. We can't panic in those moments because we've been here so much. I just think we have a team that's continuing to get better each and every night. That showed tonight.

"We're taking a step in the right direction."

K-State, 13-4 overall and 3-1 in the Big 12, won despite taking 22 fewer shot attempts than Baylor, 14-3 and 3-1. It won despite suffering 17 turnovers. It won despite being outscored 18-9 in second-chance points. It won despite allowing Baylor to corral 23 offensive rebounds. Baylor led 31-26 at halftime while shooting 39.4% from the floor. The Wildcats further clamped down and held the Bears to just 25.8% shooting in the second half, and 33.3% in overtime.

"This is no knock on anybody on our team, but we don't have somebody who's going to get 30 or 40 every night," Perry says. "We're so well rounded. Defensively, we're so versatile. We know we have to win on the defensive end. We can't rely on our offense each and every night because we've shown we struggle on the offensive end, but what can be consistent is our defense.

"The biggest thing about our team is not letting our offense dictate our defense. We're taking a step in the right direction in that."

K-State shot 42.1% in the first half, 37.0% in the second half, and 50.0% in overtime.

Junior guard Cam Carter and Perry scored 18 apiece and Kaluma added 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats, who prevailed in a contest that featured 13 lead changes and 11 ties.

"When we put it all together and us three have big nights plus we defend on the other end," Perry says, "I don't think there's a team in the country we can't beat."

Carter has been a part of all 10 overtime victories over the past two seasons.

"We practice this all the time," he says. "It's nothing new. We even put the crowd noise on the speakers. I knew we were going to pull through."

Baylor head coach Scott Drew fell to 0-3 against Tang, who served underneath him for 19 years in Waco.

"Typical Big 12 game," Drew says. "It's a blessing to play in arenas like this. Wins feel so good and losses hurt so much. Credit K-State for making plays down the stretch."

Drew continues: "(Tang) is a really good coach. He puts them into position to win. The home games, that's why it's so hard to win on the road in the Big 12. The fans deserve a lot of credit for that. I credit him. He's a really good coach."

And although K-State is 3-1 in Big 12 play, it seems like the Wildcats are just getting started.

"They could've easily let the Texas Tech loss beat us twice, but they were able to put it in a box and put it away and focus on preparation. It was a one-game season," Tang says. "Guys are really taking ownership of the team and are really investing more into it and we're figuring out ways to get a little bit better every day."

They are forging ahead.

And K-State, which has spent all season sharpening itself, appears mightily dangerous.

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Cam Carter

Dorian Finister

Arthur Kaluma

Tylor Perry

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