Jerome Tang Previews Big 12 Opener with UCF
Jan 04, 2024 | Men's Basketball
The Wildcats and Knight open Big 12 play on Saturday
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head men's basketball coach Jerome Tang met with the media on Thursday afternoon (Jan. 4) to preview the Wildcats' Big 12 opener with UCF on Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum. Links to the audio and a transcript of Tang's availability are above.
K-State (10-3) opens a new era of the Big 12 on Saturday night, as the Wildcats welcome league newcomer UCF (9-3) to Bramlage Coliseum for a 5 p.m., CT tipoff on ESPN2. Big 12 schools will continue to play an 18-game conference schedule with 9 games at home and on the road but will no longer play the round-robin, as the league embarks on its new 14-team format with the introductions of BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston.
Saturday's game will be the lone regular season meeting between the schools in 2024 and just the third overall. The Wildcats won matchups in 2003 and 2007 with the Knights, including a 71-59 victory in the only such matchup at Bramlage Coliseum on Jan. 6, 2003. The last meeting was at the Old Spice Classic in 2007 in Orlando.
UCF is off to a 9-3 start to the season under eighth-year head coach Johnny Dawkins with 3 straight wins since a 70-68 loss to unbeaten Ole Miss on Dec. 10. Three players are averaging in double figures led by the Big 12's No. 2 scorer in junior guard Jaylin Sellers, who is averaging 18.6 points on 45.1 percent shooting. Depth has been a huge advantage for the Knights, who are averaging nearly 30 points per game from their bench.
K-State has posted a 55-55 all-time record in conference openers dating back to its days in the Missouri Valley in 1914 with a 12-15 mark in the Big 12 era. The Wildcats are 37-20 at home all-time in league openers, including 11-5 at Bramlage Coliseum. The team has won 2 of their last 3 conference openers, including an 82-76 overtime victory over West Virginia in 2022-23.
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 new-look Big 12 and whether it makes the league more difficult…
"Every year it looks like it gets harder and harder, you know. A friend of mine hit me [up], like, 'dude, you got a rough couple of weeks,' or whatever it was. And I was like, 'well, what names would you have put there, and it wouldn't have been a rough couple of weeks?' Right. So that's why it's like a one game season, right? You just– one game at a time, don't get too high, don't get too low. Let's just keep moving on and trying to figure out how to win your games at home and, you know, hopefully, sneak one on the road kind of thing."
On UCF…
"They remind me defensively of Providence. Like I remember looking at Providence, and telling the team 'fellas, normally I can look at a team's defense and figure out some ways that you can pick on them,' and with Providence, it was hard to find ways that you could attack them, you know, from the offensive end where they had a weakness defensively, and it's the same thing with UCF. In the half court, they're as good of a defensive team as there is in the country. And they've got size, athleticism, rim protection, so we're gonna have to manufacture some buckets against them because they're really good on that. And then they got versatile guys on the offensive end, and you got to keep them off the glass. A couple guys that are shooting over 50% from three in the last five games. So, we're gonna have to find those guys. And they turn teams over at a high rate, if you followed us, we've kind of struggled with that third turnover thing. So, we have to take care of the ball, so it doesn't allow them to get out and transition."
On his message of 'Crazy Faith' and that mentality heading into conference play…
"You know, crazy faith wasn't just for the tournament last year it was all year long. The very first meeting, the team of guys, only two of which stayed, you know, I told them that next March we're gonna be in the NCAA tournament. And I think if you look at us and how we've played, you know, and on paper, you would say, 'man, I don't know if we are an NCAA tournament team.' But I believe that we have crazy faith in each other, them in us as a staff and us in them as players. You know, some guys aren't shooting quite as well as I believe I know they can shoot. And we haven't played quite as well and we've lost some guys along the way and people would think when you lose guys, whether it's season ending injuries or transfers, whatever it is, you know, that [the] team takes a step back, but we just have this great belief in who we are, and what God called us to be and that if we love each other more than anybody else loves each other. And we just really support each other and stay focused that we can accomplish things that people don't think we can accomplish."
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 (10-3) opens a new era of the Big 12 on Saturday night, as the Wildcats welcome league newcomer UCF (9-3) to Bramlage Coliseum for a 5 p.m., CT tipoff on ESPN2. Big 12 schools will continue to play an 18-game conference schedule with 9 games at home and on the road but will no longer play the round-robin, as the league embarks on its new 14-team format with the introductions of BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston.
Saturday's game will be the lone regular season meeting between the schools in 2024 and just the third overall. The Wildcats won matchups in 2003 and 2007 with the Knights, including a 71-59 victory in the only such matchup at Bramlage Coliseum on Jan. 6, 2003. The last meeting was at the Old Spice Classic in 2007 in Orlando.
UCF is off to a 9-3 start to the season under eighth-year head coach Johnny Dawkins with 3 straight wins since a 70-68 loss to unbeaten Ole Miss on Dec. 10. Three players are averaging in double figures led by the Big 12's No. 2 scorer in junior guard Jaylin Sellers, who is averaging 18.6 points on 45.1 percent shooting. Depth has been a huge advantage for the Knights, who are averaging nearly 30 points per game from their bench.
K-State has posted a 55-55 all-time record in conference openers dating back to its days in the Missouri Valley in 1914 with a 12-15 mark in the Big 12 era. The Wildcats are 37-20 at home all-time in league openers, including 11-5 at Bramlage Coliseum. The team has won 2 of their last 3 conference openers, including an 82-76 overtime victory over West Virginia in 2022-23.
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 new-look Big 12 and whether it makes the league more difficult…
"Every year it looks like it gets harder and harder, you know. A friend of mine hit me [up], like, 'dude, you got a rough couple of weeks,' or whatever it was. And I was like, 'well, what names would you have put there, and it wouldn't have been a rough couple of weeks?' Right. So that's why it's like a one game season, right? You just– one game at a time, don't get too high, don't get too low. Let's just keep moving on and trying to figure out how to win your games at home and, you know, hopefully, sneak one on the road kind of thing."
On UCF…
"They remind me defensively of Providence. Like I remember looking at Providence, and telling the team 'fellas, normally I can look at a team's defense and figure out some ways that you can pick on them,' and with Providence, it was hard to find ways that you could attack them, you know, from the offensive end where they had a weakness defensively, and it's the same thing with UCF. In the half court, they're as good of a defensive team as there is in the country. And they've got size, athleticism, rim protection, so we're gonna have to manufacture some buckets against them because they're really good on that. And then they got versatile guys on the offensive end, and you got to keep them off the glass. A couple guys that are shooting over 50% from three in the last five games. So, we're gonna have to find those guys. And they turn teams over at a high rate, if you followed us, we've kind of struggled with that third turnover thing. So, we have to take care of the ball, so it doesn't allow them to get out and transition."
On his message of 'Crazy Faith' and that mentality heading into conference play…
"You know, crazy faith wasn't just for the tournament last year it was all year long. The very first meeting, the team of guys, only two of which stayed, you know, I told them that next March we're gonna be in the NCAA tournament. And I think if you look at us and how we've played, you know, and on paper, you would say, 'man, I don't know if we are an NCAA tournament team.' But I believe that we have crazy faith in each other, them in us as a staff and us in them as players. You know, some guys aren't shooting quite as well as I believe I know they can shoot. And we haven't played quite as well and we've lost some guys along the way and people would think when you lose guys, whether it's season ending injuries or transfers, whatever it is, you know, that [the] team takes a step back, but we just have this great belief in who we are, and what God called us to be and that if we love each other more than anybody else loves each other. And we just really support each other and stay focused that we can accomplish things that people don't think we can accomplish."
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.
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