Jerome Tang Previews Home Game with TCU
Feb 15, 2024 | Men's Basketball
The Wildcats return home for an 11 am matchup with the Horned Frogs
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head men's basketball coach Jerome Tang met with the media on Thursday afternoon (Feb. 15) to preview the Wildcats' upcoming home game with TCU on Saturday morning. Links to the audio and a transcript of Tang's availability are above.
K-State (15-9, 5-6 Big 12) returns from its midweek bye with a home game against TCU (17-7, 6-5 Big 12) at 11 a.m., CT on Saturday morning on ESPNU. The teams have split the last 10 matchups with the Horned Frogs winning 3 times in the last 4 meetings at Bramlage Coliseum. Last season, each team won on their own home court before the Frogs won the rubber match, 80-67, in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship in Kansas City.
TCU snapped a 2-game skid with an 81-65 win over West Virginia on Monday. The Horned Frogs rate as one of the top offenses in the nation, including the top-ranked team for fast-break points (20.1). They are also among the top-30 nationally in assists (18.0 apg./ninth), scoring offense (81.8 ppg./27th) and field goal percentage (48.6/23rd). They also rank high on the defensive end, ranking 18th in steals (9.2 spg.) and 22nd in turnovers forced (15.3). Four players averaging in double figures led by senior Emanuel Miller, who leads the team in scoring (16.4 ppg.) and rebounding (5.8 rpg.). They are 6-5 away from home this season, including 4-3 in true road games.
K-State has a 21-12 lead in the all-time series, including an 18-10 mark in the Big 12 era. Saturday's matchup will be the first and only regular-season meeting between the schools, snapping an 11-year streak of playing home-and-home every year since 2012-13.
K-State has lost 5 of its last 6 games after starting the year at 14-4 and 4-1 in Big 12 play. The Wildcats are coming off a 72-66 setback at No. 21/19 BYU, in which, they nearly rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit.
K-State has been strong at home this season, posting an 11-2 record at Bramlage Coliseum, including a 4-1 mark in Big 12 matchups.
The Saturday morning matchup will be the first of 2 games in a 3-day span, as the Wildcats travel to Texas to take on the Longhorns (16-8, 5-6 Big 12) at 8 p.m., CT on Monday on ESPN2.
HEAD COACH JEROME TANG
On not having a mid-week game before facing TCU on Saturday...
"It's been good for our staff, our team, you know, we've got a lot of stuff accomplished that we need to do as a staff to continue building this program. And, you know, yesterday was ugly because they had two, almost three days off, and so got the junk out yesterday, had a better practice today, and you expect that. Guys as healthy as they could possibly be right now. And so, just looking forward to just continuing to build this thing."
On TCU creating turnovers...
"Listening to you say that I don't like it too much. They are great in transition as they were last year. And we couldn't guard them last year with Mike Miles on the floor, right, when Mike Miles wasn't there, we were able to win. This year, they are turning people over more and they get out and they play fast, they got the third oldest team in division one basketball. They're never out of a game, like they just, it doesn't matter if they're down big they just seem to just keep grinding, keep grinding, Jamie [Dixon] does a really good job with those guys. So, they're tough to play against and tough to prepare for, we can't have live ball turnovers, that just plays in their favor. They get almost eight points a game on put backs, not like dagger 3's, just sticking it back, so we got to rebound the basketball. All the things you got to do to win games, man, it's another Big 12 game and they're a great Big 12 team and we can say that they're a great team and they're a tournament team and they're I think five and five in conference, you know what I mean, like, that's just this league. And so we just have to protect our home court, we have to play really well to win."
On how hard it is to correct ongoing mistakes...
"You know, if we had been together for two or three years, right, I would be like, 'man, this is just who we are,' but collectively, really hadn't been all together until October, maybe September. And last year, we didn't have our whole team together until October. I heard one coach, I was having a conversation with he said 'you know, Jerome we're still teaching in January and February. Whereas a normal, before the portal and all of this, you did your teaching, because you had guys, you know for a year and then through the summer and into the season and you've kind of been together for a while. So, there's still a lot of learning going on so there's still a lot of opportunity for correction. I'm not saying drastic changes, but we can keep getting better into areas we need to get in."
On the status of Ques Glover...
"Ques is getting healthier and there are some rehabilitation things that he's doing that will allow him to see where the knee is at and how it will be moving forward. But everything he is doing is rehab related."
On the team taking a day away from basketball...
"We take a day off every week, and we observe a Sabbath. That's important to me and it's important to our staff, and I want them to focus on their families and, you know, get away from work and get refreshed. You look at some of the major corporations across the country, in the world, if Chick-fil-A can do a day off, and everybody thought they were crazy for doing it, even in their restaurants that are in the airport, right, and be as successful as they have been, then you got to take something from that. And there's a biblical principle that goes along with it, so for our guys, they had a day off where it was nothing but then the other two days were with their Gas [graduate assistants], they come in, they get up shots, Phil [Beier] is available for lift, Luke [Saber], rehab, those kinds of things, film is available for them through just play. And so those guys they're still doing stuff, it's just not the grind of a practice where you go in for two hours, bodies on bodies, that kind of thing."
On his message to the team...
"For some reason, I don't think like everybody really believes that we say it's a one game season, it doesn't matter if we win or we lose, we put it in a box and we move on. Like that is how you have to, if it changes, if my message changes throughout the season, then all the stuff we said earlier didn't matter and the guys sense that panic. We're in a really good situation, ok, we are where we thought we could be right now, we're five and six, and we have four more home games. I feel like we're in a good spot, I really believe and I know people have crunched numbers and did different things like that, I don't think it matters, nine wins in this league and you're gonna go to the NCAA tournament. I think there are gonna be some teams in our league that have seven or eight wins that will get in also. So my message is let's go 1-0 right, let's go 1-0 in our film session, let's go 1-0 in practice, they got school right now I'm gonna go 1-0 and taking care of that business and we will come back this evening and watch some more film, I want to go 1-0 then. And if we keep stacking those good 1-0 then the results will take care of itself."
On if he thinks the players are playing with a lot of pressure...
"I think it's different for different people. And you know, this is college athletics, there's pressure, right, but I don't know if anybody puts more pressure on our guys than they put on themselves, you know what I mean. And as a staff, nobody puts more pressure on us than we put on ourselves. And so it's just how do you use that pressure? Some pressure busts pipes and some pressure makes diamonds and we feel we got the kind of guys that the pressure is gonna make diamonds out of them."
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 (15-9, 5-6 Big 12) returns from its midweek bye with a home game against TCU (17-7, 6-5 Big 12) at 11 a.m., CT on Saturday morning on ESPNU. The teams have split the last 10 matchups with the Horned Frogs winning 3 times in the last 4 meetings at Bramlage Coliseum. Last season, each team won on their own home court before the Frogs won the rubber match, 80-67, in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship in Kansas City.
TCU snapped a 2-game skid with an 81-65 win over West Virginia on Monday. The Horned Frogs rate as one of the top offenses in the nation, including the top-ranked team for fast-break points (20.1). They are also among the top-30 nationally in assists (18.0 apg./ninth), scoring offense (81.8 ppg./27th) and field goal percentage (48.6/23rd). They also rank high on the defensive end, ranking 18th in steals (9.2 spg.) and 22nd in turnovers forced (15.3). Four players averaging in double figures led by senior Emanuel Miller, who leads the team in scoring (16.4 ppg.) and rebounding (5.8 rpg.). They are 6-5 away from home this season, including 4-3 in true road games.
K-State has a 21-12 lead in the all-time series, including an 18-10 mark in the Big 12 era. Saturday's matchup will be the first and only regular-season meeting between the schools, snapping an 11-year streak of playing home-and-home every year since 2012-13.
K-State has lost 5 of its last 6 games after starting the year at 14-4 and 4-1 in Big 12 play. The Wildcats are coming off a 72-66 setback at No. 21/19 BYU, in which, they nearly rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit.
K-State has been strong at home this season, posting an 11-2 record at Bramlage Coliseum, including a 4-1 mark in Big 12 matchups.
The Saturday morning matchup will be the first of 2 games in a 3-day span, as the Wildcats travel to Texas to take on the Longhorns (16-8, 5-6 Big 12) at 8 p.m., CT on Monday on ESPN2.
HEAD COACH JEROME TANG
On not having a mid-week game before facing TCU on Saturday...
"It's been good for our staff, our team, you know, we've got a lot of stuff accomplished that we need to do as a staff to continue building this program. And, you know, yesterday was ugly because they had two, almost three days off, and so got the junk out yesterday, had a better practice today, and you expect that. Guys as healthy as they could possibly be right now. And so, just looking forward to just continuing to build this thing."
On TCU creating turnovers...
"Listening to you say that I don't like it too much. They are great in transition as they were last year. And we couldn't guard them last year with Mike Miles on the floor, right, when Mike Miles wasn't there, we were able to win. This year, they are turning people over more and they get out and they play fast, they got the third oldest team in division one basketball. They're never out of a game, like they just, it doesn't matter if they're down big they just seem to just keep grinding, keep grinding, Jamie [Dixon] does a really good job with those guys. So, they're tough to play against and tough to prepare for, we can't have live ball turnovers, that just plays in their favor. They get almost eight points a game on put backs, not like dagger 3's, just sticking it back, so we got to rebound the basketball. All the things you got to do to win games, man, it's another Big 12 game and they're a great Big 12 team and we can say that they're a great team and they're a tournament team and they're I think five and five in conference, you know what I mean, like, that's just this league. And so we just have to protect our home court, we have to play really well to win."
On how hard it is to correct ongoing mistakes...
"You know, if we had been together for two or three years, right, I would be like, 'man, this is just who we are,' but collectively, really hadn't been all together until October, maybe September. And last year, we didn't have our whole team together until October. I heard one coach, I was having a conversation with he said 'you know, Jerome we're still teaching in January and February. Whereas a normal, before the portal and all of this, you did your teaching, because you had guys, you know for a year and then through the summer and into the season and you've kind of been together for a while. So, there's still a lot of learning going on so there's still a lot of opportunity for correction. I'm not saying drastic changes, but we can keep getting better into areas we need to get in."
On the status of Ques Glover...
"Ques is getting healthier and there are some rehabilitation things that he's doing that will allow him to see where the knee is at and how it will be moving forward. But everything he is doing is rehab related."
On the team taking a day away from basketball...
"We take a day off every week, and we observe a Sabbath. That's important to me and it's important to our staff, and I want them to focus on their families and, you know, get away from work and get refreshed. You look at some of the major corporations across the country, in the world, if Chick-fil-A can do a day off, and everybody thought they were crazy for doing it, even in their restaurants that are in the airport, right, and be as successful as they have been, then you got to take something from that. And there's a biblical principle that goes along with it, so for our guys, they had a day off where it was nothing but then the other two days were with their Gas [graduate assistants], they come in, they get up shots, Phil [Beier] is available for lift, Luke [Saber], rehab, those kinds of things, film is available for them through just play. And so those guys they're still doing stuff, it's just not the grind of a practice where you go in for two hours, bodies on bodies, that kind of thing."
On his message to the team...
"For some reason, I don't think like everybody really believes that we say it's a one game season, it doesn't matter if we win or we lose, we put it in a box and we move on. Like that is how you have to, if it changes, if my message changes throughout the season, then all the stuff we said earlier didn't matter and the guys sense that panic. We're in a really good situation, ok, we are where we thought we could be right now, we're five and six, and we have four more home games. I feel like we're in a good spot, I really believe and I know people have crunched numbers and did different things like that, I don't think it matters, nine wins in this league and you're gonna go to the NCAA tournament. I think there are gonna be some teams in our league that have seven or eight wins that will get in also. So my message is let's go 1-0 right, let's go 1-0 in our film session, let's go 1-0 in practice, they got school right now I'm gonna go 1-0 and taking care of that business and we will come back this evening and watch some more film, I want to go 1-0 then. And if we keep stacking those good 1-0 then the results will take care of itself."
On if he thinks the players are playing with a lot of pressure...
"I think it's different for different people. And you know, this is college athletics, there's pressure, right, but I don't know if anybody puts more pressure on our guys than they put on themselves, you know what I mean. And as a staff, nobody puts more pressure on us than we put on ourselves. And so it's just how do you use that pressure? Some pressure busts pipes and some pressure makes diamonds and we feel we got the kind of guys that the pressure is gonna make diamonds out of them."
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.
Players Mentioned
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