Green Light Go
Nov 11, 2024 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
One of the smoothest long-range shooters to step foot inside Bramlage Coliseum in three decades saunters down the wide tunnel to the basketball court shortly after 5:30 p.m. Saturday wearing a white No. 11 Kansas State jersey and his white socks. Indomitable Brendan Hausen, who performed his own dribbling and shooting warmup exercises two hours before tipoff, poured in a career-high 22 points and sank 6-of-9 3-point attempts while leading the Wildcats to a 77-64 win over Cleveland State, and nearly an hour after his performance he returns to the court, holding a protein drink, looking for someone to high-five or hug.
"I'm just a laid-back guy who loves to meet people and have fun," Hausen says. "This is home. I never want to leave this place. Great fishing. Great people. Great food. I'm in heaven."
Manhattan, called the Little Apple, is certainly happy to have him. Even before the 21-year-old Hausen arrived at K-State after playing two seasons at Villanova, his reputation as a sharpshooter gained steam as fans salivated over a social media video of Hausen making 3-pointer after 3-pointer inside a gym. Over the offseason, he gets up shots two or three times a day, practicing five hours in all, and he once made 105 3-pointers in a row. At Villanova, 223 of his 246 shot attempts were from behind the 3-point line and his 39.5% (88-of-223) shooting percentage would've ranked second in the Big 12 Conference last season.
Nearly one year to the day (November 10, 2023) that Hausen scored his previous career high of 18 points (6-of-8 on 3-pointers) against Le Moyne, and nearly 11 months (December 5, 2023) since Hausen played six minutes for Villanova in a 72-71 overtime loss to K-State, the marksman now wears K-State purple-and-white and has set up camp all along the 3-point line at Bramlage, and he is wheeling and dealing to the delight of his coaches and teammates and fans.
He has the green light. Every time he touches the ball.
"You all know he can shoot, right, but the dude can play," K-State head coach Jerome Tang says. "He makes the game easier. I love 30-foot spacing. If they have to guard him from 30 feet, it makes the game easier for everybody."
Adds Illinois senior transfer Coleman Hawkins, the Preseason Big 12 co-Newcomer of the Year: "I love when Brendan shoots the ball, especially when I'm passing it to him, because I feel like it's going in every time. He's an elite shooter."
A popular country song and a story that goes along with it precedes the appearance of Hausen, a native of Amarillo, Texas, in the spotlight during starting introductions at Bramlage. George Strait's 1982 rendition of "Amarillo by Morning," fills the air of the arena, a pleasing hat-tip that Hausen chose as his walk-up music, paying homage to Amarillo High School, where the story began, while also serving a shout out to his nickname "The Amarillo Assassin" — a nickname that he said was coined at Villanova early in his freshman year.
It was during Hausen's sophomore year that Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune said that he went to the locker room to retrieve something and found Hausen sleeping. Hausen was about to wake up and go shoot.
These days, Hausen needs to just walk from his apartment to reach Ice Family Basketball Center to get up shots at any time of the day (or night). The shooting bug first bit Hausen in a gym in Amarillo. His parents, Benji and Stefanie, are both basketball coaches, and so Hausen was born into it. He was the original gym rat.
"Since I could walk," he says, "I was in there."
His father served as his coach as he grew up, and more than once young Brendan got into trouble for launching 3-pointers from Steph Curry and Trae Young range. But Hausen turned heads as a seventh grader at the John Lucas Camp.
"I was nobody at the time, a kid from Amarillo, Texas, and I shocked a lot of people and showed that I could shoot the ball," Hausen says in a phone interview. "I came home and said, "This is for me.' I thought I could be the best to ever leave Amarillo and go play somewhere."
He did exactly that. He set records. He finished as Amarillo High School's all-time leading scorer and was ranked as the 16th best shooting guard in the Class of 2022 by 247Sports. Hausen considered Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Nevada and Arizona State before choosing Villanova as his college home and signing with Hall-of-Famer Jay Wright and the Wildcats in November 2021.
Now he has a new home: Manhattan.
And it started with a phone call.
Shortly after Hausen entered the transfer portal, he heard a familiar voice on the other end of the phone. It was K-State associate head coach Ulric Maligi. Lauded by ESPN and The Athletic as one of the nation's top assistant coaches, Maligi has 17 years of coaching experience and deep ties to the state of Texas. He came to K-State in April 2022 after spending three seasons on staff at Texas Tech (2019-21) and Texas (2021-22). He had also served as assistant coach at UT-Arlington, Stephen F. Austin, Houston, SMU and Texas A&M.
Maligi had originally recruited Hausen to Texas Tech.
"It's always a God thing, man," Maligi says. "Everything happens like it's supposed to. I got a chance to see Brendan play as a rising ninth grader, and Coach Tang saw him at around the same time. We recruited him at Texas Tech, and they recruited him at Baylor. We played against him last year. He thought this was the best home court he saw all of last year. When he went into the portal, he was instantly one of our top guys. We're just fortunate to have him. We knew what he did in high school. He broke all types of records. There's his work ethic. Coach's son. He just fit.
"We're not surprised by what he's doing right now. It's just the beginning."
Hausen fell in love with K-State instantly when he and his parents visited Tang and the coaching staff April 20-21.
"He has a terrific family," Tang says. "His dad is a high school coach, his mother is a coach. Just a wonderful family, man. He's the kind of person that you want to be around, and you want your kids around, and you want him to represent you. When he was at his last school, we paid attention and just felt like given the opportunity he could do the things that he's doing right now. I'm so thankful his mom and dad trusted us. I hate it to be a black and white thing but very few times do really good white players choose to play for black coaches. For him to look past that and just say, 'I want to be around good people,' and make that decision for us, that's huge. That's huge.
"I'm so fired up."
Hausen almost grows teary when talking about his parents, who traveled to watch their oldest son play his first game at K-State — 17 points on 4-of-9 3-point shooting in 27 minutes — in an 89-65 win over New Orleans on Tuesday. Hausen's younger brother, Braden is a freshman guard at High Point.
"They have sacrificed so much," he says. "They've been there. My whole family. My mom is on a plane right now going to see my brother in North Carolina. She's flying here next week. My dad drove up. They're sacrificed their whole life. Just putting on a show for them, that's all I can ask for."
And he's putting on a show for K-State fans, some of whom cannot yet fully wrap their heads around Hausen just two games into his junior season.
Hausen has made 10 of his 18 3-point attempts in two games and his current rate of 55.6% would top the single-season record of 44.6% set by Steve Henson in 1988-89 — the first year the Wildcats played in Bramlage. Other notable efforts from behind the 3-point stripe include Nijel Pack in 2021-22 (.436), Askia Jones in 1991-92 (.400), and Jacob Pullen in 2009-10 (.396).
Asked if any of this has set in yet, Hausen smiles.
"No, it really hasn't," he beams. "I told somebody the other day, 'I don't even know what day it is, but I'm having the best time of my life.' I'm having so much fun. I wake up and I'm ready to do it again."
He'll get his next chance to do so when K-State meets LSU for Thursday's 8 p.m. tipoff at Bramlage. Hard to fathom that the Big 12 season begins in six weeks.
"I know what we're capable of," Hausen says. "I wouldn't call us a surprise. We show up and we work hard, and we expect to win."
And the Amarillo Assassin is intent upon hitting every single shot, as opponents are still wondering who this guy is creating such a stir in the Little Apple.
"I might be a surprise to some people, but I know what I'm capable of," he says. "I know all the work I put in."
It's hours and hours and shots after shots. His impressive dedication to the craft is creating art. Whereas some players might make six 3-pointers once or twice in a season, there are already hints of sustaining power for Hausen. If he averages 3.5 3-pointers a game over a 31-game schedule, it would give him 108 3-pointers — two off the single-season school record of 110 made 3-pointers by Askia Jones (1993-94) and Jacob Pullen (2009-10).
He already opened eyes just by scoring his career-high 22 points against Cleveland State in his second game as a Wildcat.
"Brendan is Brendan, he's doing Brendan things," Tang says. "I want him to catch and shoot, and he's open as soon as he steps into the gym."
Seated in the postgame interview room, Hausen says, "I'm having a blast. What's not to love?"
There's plenty to love as he rises and walks out of the interview room and begins to amble down the slanted tunnel and toward the sounds of players' families and friends on the basketball court. He smiles. He has pulled off his sneakers and is walking around in his socks. You walk around in socks when you're at home.
And Hausen, after just two games, already looks very much at home.
One of the smoothest long-range shooters to step foot inside Bramlage Coliseum in three decades saunters down the wide tunnel to the basketball court shortly after 5:30 p.m. Saturday wearing a white No. 11 Kansas State jersey and his white socks. Indomitable Brendan Hausen, who performed his own dribbling and shooting warmup exercises two hours before tipoff, poured in a career-high 22 points and sank 6-of-9 3-point attempts while leading the Wildcats to a 77-64 win over Cleveland State, and nearly an hour after his performance he returns to the court, holding a protein drink, looking for someone to high-five or hug.
"I'm just a laid-back guy who loves to meet people and have fun," Hausen says. "This is home. I never want to leave this place. Great fishing. Great people. Great food. I'm in heaven."
Manhattan, called the Little Apple, is certainly happy to have him. Even before the 21-year-old Hausen arrived at K-State after playing two seasons at Villanova, his reputation as a sharpshooter gained steam as fans salivated over a social media video of Hausen making 3-pointer after 3-pointer inside a gym. Over the offseason, he gets up shots two or three times a day, practicing five hours in all, and he once made 105 3-pointers in a row. At Villanova, 223 of his 246 shot attempts were from behind the 3-point line and his 39.5% (88-of-223) shooting percentage would've ranked second in the Big 12 Conference last season.
Nearly one year to the day (November 10, 2023) that Hausen scored his previous career high of 18 points (6-of-8 on 3-pointers) against Le Moyne, and nearly 11 months (December 5, 2023) since Hausen played six minutes for Villanova in a 72-71 overtime loss to K-State, the marksman now wears K-State purple-and-white and has set up camp all along the 3-point line at Bramlage, and he is wheeling and dealing to the delight of his coaches and teammates and fans.
He has the green light. Every time he touches the ball.
"You all know he can shoot, right, but the dude can play," K-State head coach Jerome Tang says. "He makes the game easier. I love 30-foot spacing. If they have to guard him from 30 feet, it makes the game easier for everybody."
Adds Illinois senior transfer Coleman Hawkins, the Preseason Big 12 co-Newcomer of the Year: "I love when Brendan shoots the ball, especially when I'm passing it to him, because I feel like it's going in every time. He's an elite shooter."
A popular country song and a story that goes along with it precedes the appearance of Hausen, a native of Amarillo, Texas, in the spotlight during starting introductions at Bramlage. George Strait's 1982 rendition of "Amarillo by Morning," fills the air of the arena, a pleasing hat-tip that Hausen chose as his walk-up music, paying homage to Amarillo High School, where the story began, while also serving a shout out to his nickname "The Amarillo Assassin" — a nickname that he said was coined at Villanova early in his freshman year.
It was during Hausen's sophomore year that Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune said that he went to the locker room to retrieve something and found Hausen sleeping. Hausen was about to wake up and go shoot.
These days, Hausen needs to just walk from his apartment to reach Ice Family Basketball Center to get up shots at any time of the day (or night). The shooting bug first bit Hausen in a gym in Amarillo. His parents, Benji and Stefanie, are both basketball coaches, and so Hausen was born into it. He was the original gym rat.
"Since I could walk," he says, "I was in there."
His father served as his coach as he grew up, and more than once young Brendan got into trouble for launching 3-pointers from Steph Curry and Trae Young range. But Hausen turned heads as a seventh grader at the John Lucas Camp.
"I was nobody at the time, a kid from Amarillo, Texas, and I shocked a lot of people and showed that I could shoot the ball," Hausen says in a phone interview. "I came home and said, "This is for me.' I thought I could be the best to ever leave Amarillo and go play somewhere."
He did exactly that. He set records. He finished as Amarillo High School's all-time leading scorer and was ranked as the 16th best shooting guard in the Class of 2022 by 247Sports. Hausen considered Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Nevada and Arizona State before choosing Villanova as his college home and signing with Hall-of-Famer Jay Wright and the Wildcats in November 2021.
Now he has a new home: Manhattan.
And it started with a phone call.
Shortly after Hausen entered the transfer portal, he heard a familiar voice on the other end of the phone. It was K-State associate head coach Ulric Maligi. Lauded by ESPN and The Athletic as one of the nation's top assistant coaches, Maligi has 17 years of coaching experience and deep ties to the state of Texas. He came to K-State in April 2022 after spending three seasons on staff at Texas Tech (2019-21) and Texas (2021-22). He had also served as assistant coach at UT-Arlington, Stephen F. Austin, Houston, SMU and Texas A&M.
Maligi had originally recruited Hausen to Texas Tech.
"It's always a God thing, man," Maligi says. "Everything happens like it's supposed to. I got a chance to see Brendan play as a rising ninth grader, and Coach Tang saw him at around the same time. We recruited him at Texas Tech, and they recruited him at Baylor. We played against him last year. He thought this was the best home court he saw all of last year. When he went into the portal, he was instantly one of our top guys. We're just fortunate to have him. We knew what he did in high school. He broke all types of records. There's his work ethic. Coach's son. He just fit.
"We're not surprised by what he's doing right now. It's just the beginning."
Hausen fell in love with K-State instantly when he and his parents visited Tang and the coaching staff April 20-21.
"He has a terrific family," Tang says. "His dad is a high school coach, his mother is a coach. Just a wonderful family, man. He's the kind of person that you want to be around, and you want your kids around, and you want him to represent you. When he was at his last school, we paid attention and just felt like given the opportunity he could do the things that he's doing right now. I'm so thankful his mom and dad trusted us. I hate it to be a black and white thing but very few times do really good white players choose to play for black coaches. For him to look past that and just say, 'I want to be around good people,' and make that decision for us, that's huge. That's huge.
"I'm so fired up."
Hausen almost grows teary when talking about his parents, who traveled to watch their oldest son play his first game at K-State — 17 points on 4-of-9 3-point shooting in 27 minutes — in an 89-65 win over New Orleans on Tuesday. Hausen's younger brother, Braden is a freshman guard at High Point.
"They have sacrificed so much," he says. "They've been there. My whole family. My mom is on a plane right now going to see my brother in North Carolina. She's flying here next week. My dad drove up. They're sacrificed their whole life. Just putting on a show for them, that's all I can ask for."
And he's putting on a show for K-State fans, some of whom cannot yet fully wrap their heads around Hausen just two games into his junior season.
Hausen has made 10 of his 18 3-point attempts in two games and his current rate of 55.6% would top the single-season record of 44.6% set by Steve Henson in 1988-89 — the first year the Wildcats played in Bramlage. Other notable efforts from behind the 3-point stripe include Nijel Pack in 2021-22 (.436), Askia Jones in 1991-92 (.400), and Jacob Pullen in 2009-10 (.396).
Asked if any of this has set in yet, Hausen smiles.
"No, it really hasn't," he beams. "I told somebody the other day, 'I don't even know what day it is, but I'm having the best time of my life.' I'm having so much fun. I wake up and I'm ready to do it again."
He'll get his next chance to do so when K-State meets LSU for Thursday's 8 p.m. tipoff at Bramlage. Hard to fathom that the Big 12 season begins in six weeks.
"I know what we're capable of," Hausen says. "I wouldn't call us a surprise. We show up and we work hard, and we expect to win."
And the Amarillo Assassin is intent upon hitting every single shot, as opponents are still wondering who this guy is creating such a stir in the Little Apple.
"I might be a surprise to some people, but I know what I'm capable of," he says. "I know all the work I put in."
It's hours and hours and shots after shots. His impressive dedication to the craft is creating art. Whereas some players might make six 3-pointers once or twice in a season, there are already hints of sustaining power for Hausen. If he averages 3.5 3-pointers a game over a 31-game schedule, it would give him 108 3-pointers — two off the single-season school record of 110 made 3-pointers by Askia Jones (1993-94) and Jacob Pullen (2009-10).
He already opened eyes just by scoring his career-high 22 points against Cleveland State in his second game as a Wildcat.
"Brendan is Brendan, he's doing Brendan things," Tang says. "I want him to catch and shoot, and he's open as soon as he steps into the gym."
Seated in the postgame interview room, Hausen says, "I'm having a blast. What's not to love?"
There's plenty to love as he rises and walks out of the interview room and begins to amble down the slanted tunnel and toward the sounds of players' families and friends on the basketball court. He smiles. He has pulled off his sneakers and is walking around in his socks. You walk around in socks when you're at home.
And Hausen, after just two games, already looks very much at home.
Players Mentioned
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