For the Love of the Game

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Jerome Tang says that there's Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, and Kansas State has Shark Week because guys are going to discover some things about themselves and each other. Isn't that the truth? K-State just had its Shark Week. Shark Week G.R.I.T. — Greatness Really Is Tough. It's a five-day marathon with dozens of defensive slides and conditioning ladders, games of tug-o-war, distance running, fast-twitch running, timed running, and more ladders, and well, this is just the beginning.

There's more, so much more, and so many more reps that steer and grind toward the great plateau, referred only to as the "Championship Run" — an undertaking whose exact ingredients are locked away like the secret recipe to Steve's smoked ribs.

"Shark Week is Shark Week," Tang says, sitting inside the Ice Family Basketball Center. "I thought our guys did a great job attacking it. Before that, we went on a team retreat. There were a lot of psychological challenges and mental stuff that they had to overcome on the team retreat, and they did a really good job of that.

"They came back and attacked Shark Week."

Today, Tang sits behind a wood table with a black cloth covering and in front of a purple backdrop adorned with white Big 12 logos. He wears a purple ballcap with a white Powercat above the bill. He wears a purple t-shirt with a white Powercat front and center. Now Tang likes to wear t-shirts that also feature a single word across the chest. That word is emblazoned in white directly above the white Powercat.

Today's word: "LOVE."

"For us to be as successful as we're capable of being and for guys to accomplish what they want to accomplish," Tang explains, "they have to fall in love with the game and not just the lifestyle."

Love the game.

It's certainly what makes Coleman Hawkins tick. Tang points out Hawkins' dedication in sticking with his six-week rehabilitation process to heal a lingering knee injury. The 6-foot-10 Hawkins was the top remaining transfer and No. 21 overall transfer in the 2024 cycle when he committed to the Wildcats on June 14. His arrival came after four impactful NCAA Tournament seasons at Illinois, where he became the first player in Illinois history to record 900 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists, 100 steals and 100 blocks in a career.

Hawkins could become one of the best players in the Big 12, but he isn't content.

"It feels good, but it isn't something I want to be satisfied about," Hawkins says. "I'd rather be one of the best players in the country. I know what the Big 12 is, and I know it's a monster basketball conference, so that's good to hear, but I don't want to get too hung up on that, especially early right now, because I'm going to have to play and play well."

Hawkins is expected to draw ample attention in the Big 12, but he won't be alone. Tang and his coaching staff assembled one of the best transfer classes in college basketball. It includes Achor Achor (Samford), Dug McDaniel (Michigan), Ugonna Onyenso (Kentucky), Baye Fall (Arkansas), Brendan Hausen (Villanova), C.J. Jones (UIC) and Max Jones (Cal State Fullerton).

A love for the game fueled McDaniel as he worked out alone at the University of Michigan shortly after class at 3:15 p.m. on April 8. His Bluetooth in the gym wasn't tuned to music. Instead, he filled the gym with crowd noise, as he hit shot after shot, picturing himself making clutch basket after clutch basket, and dreaming about a new hoops life in Manhattan.

McDaniel, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound native of Washington, D.C., was the fifth-rated point guard in the transfer portal and a slam dunk for Tang and the Wildcats, who sought an instant leader and instant contributor for a squad two years removed from Markquis Nowell and the 2023 NCAA Elite Eight run. McDaniel donned the No. 0 jersey on his visit to K-State.

"After seeing what Markquis Nowell did, to put on the same jersey, it felt good," McDaniel says. "Markquis and I, we have a similar mindset. When he played, I could tell he was out there fighting for something. He's an east-coast guy and we have a very similar playing style. I know the fans will be excited about that. He has that dog mentality.

"I feel like I carry myself the same way."

McDaniel led Michigan in points (16.3), assists (4.7), steals (1.1) and minutes (35.4) as a sophomore. And he also made a team-high 56 3-pointers. He had seven 20-point games and two 30-point outbursts, and he scored a career-high 33 points twice — at Oregon and then against Florida — in a span of 17 days. He knocked down seven 3-pointers against the Ducks. He made 12-of-13 free throws and added eight rebounds and five assists against the Gators. He also posted 122 assists as a true freshman, becoming the first Michigan freshman to reach 100 assists in a season since Trey Burke in 2011-12.

And now he's here.

"Dug has really embraced learning what we want him to do as a point guard and be as a leader," Tang says. "He empties his cup every day and allows us to fill it, so I've been really pleased with that. With everything, with every new phase we're doing there are new challenges he has to face and then it's up to us as a staff to confront him on it and help him get through it. It's going to be continual growth.

"I love the kid. If we were playing football and he was the DB you're not getting open and he's going to win the 50-50 ball and if you flipped it, and he became the wide receiver and you were the DB, he's going to go catch that pass. He's that type of competitor. I love having him."

A love for the game? Heck, they don't call Brendan Hausen, a native of Amarillo, Texas, "The Amarillo Assassin" for nothing. Hausen once made 105 3-pointers in a row during a workout, and he gets up shots twice or three times a day, practicing five hours in all. During his first two seasons at Villanova, he attempted 246 field goals, including 223 3-point attempts. He shot 39.5% (88-of-223) on 3-point attempts at Villanova — a figure that would've ranked second in the Big 12 Conference last season.

"I pride myself on being a great 3-point shooter, but also at K-State I'm going to be able to show just a little bit more than being a 3-point shooter, and that I have a complete game," Hausen says. "The 3-point line is where I'm going to do most of my damage.

"And I take pride in that."

Love of the game. How can you not already love Ugonna Kingsley Onyenso? It wasn't until August that the Kentucky transfer saw his mother, Lilian Chinyere, for the first time in two years. He was born in Owerri, the capital city of Imo State in Nigeria. It is the state's largest city with more than 1.4 million residents and consists of three local government areas. Lilian raised five children in her home following her husband's death. When it came time for 7-foot, 247-pound Ugonna to seek his future in the United States, his mother wrangled with all the paperwork to make a dream come true.

"I keep telling her I'm doing this for you," Onyenso says. "Every time I wake up, she's the one I think about before I start my day."

A former consensus top-25 recruit, Onyenso arrived in Manhattan in June after two seasons at Kentucky (2022-24), where he was a member of two NCAA Tournament teams. He developed into one of the nation's top shot blockers at Kentucky, posting 82 blocks in 40 games, and his 2.75 blocks per game in 2023-34 ranked fifth in Kentucky history. He had Rupp Arena record-tying 10 blocks in a win over Ole Miss, equaling the 10 blocks by Navy center David Robinson at Rupp on January 25, 1987.

"Coach Tang said they had been looking at me since I was in high school," says Onyenso, who was ranked by ESPN as a top-70 prospect in the 2024 NBA Draft. "I was surprised when he said that to me. It was between (K-State) and USC for me. For me, I wanted to see the culture for players, how well the players get along, and I came here and the staff and everybody was one big family. That's what I love.

"Especially being away from my family."

Heck, Achor Achor is another Division I transfer who's away from his home in Melbourne, Australia, but who has found a home at K-State. Achor, a 6-foot-9, 227-pound wing was the buzz in the early rounds of March Madness. You might remember how 13^th-seeded Samford nearly erased a 22-point second-half deficit before falling to No. 4 seed Kansas, 93-89, in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Achor led the Bulldogs' charge with a 23-point, eight-rebound effort that placed him firmly on the map of college basketball while helping guide his squad to a 29-6 record, setting a school record for wins in a season.

After the tournament, he opted to transfer from Samford. He visited K-State. He felt the love.

"I felt like I connected with the coaching staff," he says. "I really liked everybody. It was my type of energy. I trusted Coach Tang. A big thing is playing for a coach I can trust. The style that K-State plays fits me. I can see myself plugging into their system — very fast, free-flowing with a lot of shots being made and with a high-tempo defense. I feel like Coach Tang will let me display my game."

And so far, Tang is impressed.

"Achor has played five years of college basketball, so he brings a maturity," Tang says. "He played in the junior college national championship and went to the NCAA Tournament at Samford, so he brings that to the table. He can really shoot the ball. When he wants, he can sit in a stance and guard. I like that about him. He's a shot maker. It's not just squared-up looking at the rim and shooting it. He flips it up and it goes in pretty easy for him."

Oh, there's more. The stories are everywhere. There's returning senior David N'Guessan and sophomore Taj Manning and Macaleab Rich, and former junior college All-American Mobi Ikegwuruka and top-50 high school prospect David Castillo.

"(Castillo) definitely has the approach of a professional," Tang says. "He has championship habits, man, how he approaches pre-practice, post-practice, and how he competes in practice, and the way he talks to his teammates, and when things get tough at practice, he's the very best in those moments, the very best of him comes out. He's not your typical freshman. We knew he was a winner. That's why we recruited him. And he's been better than that being on campus."

Yes sir, the stories waft across the practice court like a warm hug, whispering, "We're in this together." The stories of "LOVE, JOY AND FREEDOM" — the three words that Tang writes on the dry-erase board before every game — will make their way into Bramlage Coliseum, and what new stories the players will have to tell, about sellout crowds, and about it being crazy loud, and about playing top-25 teams almost nightly during the grind of the Big 12 season.

N'Guessan knows. A 6-foot-9, 220-pound senior from De Lier, The Netherlands, has played two seasons at K-State after transferring from Virginia Tech, where he played two seasons. N'Guessan announced on April 30 that he would use his final year of eligibility at K-State this season. He comes off a career year in which he posted career highs in points (265), double-digit scoring games (14), field goals made (111) and attempted (190), rebounds (230), assists (31), blocks (26), steals (24), and minutes (935).

K-State finished last season with a 19-15 record, including an 8-10 mark in Big 12 play, and played in the NIT. K-State had four top-25 wins, including three in the top 10.

Think N'Guessan, who's played in 63 games with 39 starts at K-State, isn't hungry to help steer the Wildcats back to the NCAA Tournament this year?

"David has been incredible," Tang says. "His confidence level is at an all-time high and you can just see how he carries himself and how he practices. His personality has really blossomed. That definitely really helps."

What has Tang learned about the Wildcats in recent weeks?

"They rise to the occasion," Tang replies. "Our team retreat, some of the things that we do there definitely takes them out of their comfort zone, and to see them all step up to the plate, that was great. And then Shark Week, that takes you out of your comfort zone, and you have to try and punch through paper ceilings. It feels like you can't take another step, and you have a whole lot more in you.

"To watch them all and how they encouraged each other and bonded, that was impressive."

Tang adds: "The talent level we have is higher than what we've had before across the board, so that's fun to work with, and then now it's just about an alignment to the assignment. Can we get everybody aligned to what we want to accomplish this year? That challenge is also a lot of fun.

"I do like the pieces we have where if a team plays big, we can go big, and if a team goes small, we can go small. I like the fact that we have big wings who can both dribble, pass and shoot along with post up. I believe the size we have is going to help us defensive rebound. We haven't been as good of a defensive rebounding team as we need to be."

Tuesday is the official start of practice at Ice Family Basketball Center. The team will have 43 days until their first exhibition game against Fort Hays State on October 29 and 50 days before opening the season against New Orleans on November 5 at Bramlage Coliseum.

"The next couple weeks they're going to get a chance to tell us what they can't do," Tang says. "Then we'll go from there. Right now, as a staff, we feel like we do have guys who are versatile and can play multiple positions. Over the next two weeks they'll tell on themselves."

Asked to describe his personal excitement for the official start of practice, Tang replies, "I was super excited that we got to have everybody for July. This is my first time in three years — we had never had a whole team in July, so that was really exciting. We had a really good preseason, so I was excited about that. Now I'm really excited about the next step in this whole process. We have 43 days until our first game, and I'm excited about seeing how far we can go from here until then, and we won't be a finished product in 43 days, but we have certain things we need to get to give us a chance to win that first one. Just the whole process of this thing is exciting."

He pauses. He grins.

"You know, it was exciting to wake up this morning and feel a chill in the air," he says, "and, man, you know it's basketball season."

Shark Week is finished. K-State discovered much about itself. And K-State will continue to do so. Judging by Tang's smile, the love, joy and freedom are all there in the infant stages of this campaign. It's three returning players and 11 newcomers, including eight Division I transfers, a junior college All-American and a top-50 high school prospect. They have goals today. And they'll have goals tomorrow. But along the way on this journey toward October, the Wildcats discovered some things about themselves and each other.

There's plenty of love for the game.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

David Castillo

Baye Fall

Brendan Hausen

Coleman Hawkins

Mobi Ikegwuruka

C.J. Jones

Max Jones

Taj Manning

Dug McDaniel

David N'Guessan

Ugonna Onyenso

Macaleab Rich

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