Control the Controllables

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Coleman Hawkins has a message to his Kansas State teammates.

"It's us versus everybody," he said.

Hawkins' directive came after his all-around performance helped Kansas State albeit in a heartbreaking 73-70 overtime loss to Drake in the Wildcat Classic in front of 9,210 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

The 6-foot-10, 235-pound senior transfer from Illinois had one of his best performances yet at K-State with a team-high 16 points, five rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocks in nearly 38 minutes of action.

Hawkins entered Tuesday's game against Drake leading the team in rebounds (7.2), steals (2.4), blocks (1.2) and minutes (32.1) while he ranked second in assists (3.7) and fourth in points (8.8).

He scored a season-high 19 points against Longwood and tied his career-high with 13 rebounds against Mississippi Valley State.

He transferred to K-State after four seasons at Illinois, where he was a part of four Big Ten titles and four NCAA Tournament appearances, including a run to the Elite Eight in 2024.

"We go out and practice every day and play hard, and we're doing the best we can," Hawkins said. "My message is it's us versus everybody and we can control what we can control and all the other stuff we'll just have to tune out and lock in the rest of the way come conference play."

K-State head coach Jerome Tang lauded Hawkins' efforts following Tuesday's defeat.

"Coleman's effort and his leadership and energy and enthusiasm he played with was great," Tang said. "His buy-in on what we wanted to do, I was proud of that."

Later, Tang said, "Man, it's a shame some of the comments these guys get."

Hawkins will take his us-versus-everybody approach with the Wildcats when they travel to face Wichita State on Saturday.

The Wildcats then open up the Big 12 Conference season against Cincinnati on December 30.

"We're trying to win every game," Tang said. "The great thing is we play in a league that if you can win 10 games in our league it gives you a chance to go to the NCAA Tournament. Before we can win 10, we have to win one. The only thing we're thinking about his how to get better so we can win the game at Wichita State."

Hawkins said, "It's zero to zero come conference play."

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Coleman Hawkins

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