‘The Sky’s the Limit for David’
Nov 10, 2025 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
The teacher and pupil stood on the court, underneath the left side of the basket, as lights from high above an arena that emptied an hour ago illuminated them as they spoke for quite a while.
On the right was former K-State great Clent Stewart, who first met the young man when he was a 4-year-old boy in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Stewart, who scored nearly 1,400 points during a 242-game career at K-State from 2004 to 2008, knew the court that they stood upon at Bramlage Coliseum. He knew the basketball court quite well.
To Stewart's left stood current K-State sophomore guard David Castillo, who left Bartlesville High School with a school-record 1,594 points while averaging 23.7 points in his 67-game career. Stewart was Castillo's AAU head coach, and then his head coach at Bartlesville High School. Castillo transferred to Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas, for his senior season, and finished as a consensus four-star prospect, a top-15 point guard nationally, and the No. 1 prospect in the state of Kansas by all the recruiting services.
Stewart continues to journey to the Little Apple to watch his pupil play the game he loves. And the teacher and pupil stood and spoke for quite some time Saturday night after Castillo made a big statement — the biggest of his career — in a performance that he and Castillo and K-State head coach Jerome Tang and his coaching staff, and K-State players, and K-State fans might remember for a long time.
Castillo came off the bench to score a career-high 19 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the floor and 5-of-5 from 3-point range in 12 minutes. That's right — 12 minutes. He became just the eighth K-State player in history to go 5-of-5 or better from beyond the arc — joining Stewart, the former K-State great, and Castillo's former coach, and one of Castillo's biggest supporters.
"Pretty phenomenal," Stewart said, recalling the performance. "And David had 19 points, which was also my career high at K-State. I'm hoping he supersedes that. It's pretty special."
The teacher and pupil discussed many things on the basketball court after Castillo's breakout performance. In the end, it all sort of came down to one thing: The work that Castillo has put in to reach this point.
"He's gotten back to things that he was doing when he was young that got him to where he is today," Stewart said, "and that's now having the opportunity to shine upon the big stage, play well, and have the best game he's had from a scoring standpoint. It all goes back to the work he's put in.
"I'm trying to keep him true to doing those things, to staying positive, and staying confident in his abilities, and not just scoring but in helping his teammates, and running the team if he's at the point, and getting guys to their spots, and communicating on the court, and getting guys open as well as stepping up and making shots when the opportunities present themselves. I'm trying to keep his mind right and locked in. It's his second season, and this is where you want to see him take a step forward. I think he's already on that path."
Shortly after K-State thumped Bellarmine, 98-71, on Saturday night, All-American senior guard PJ Haggerty took a seat next to Castillo in the postgame interview room.
"Dang, DC, you really didn't miss a shot!" Haggerty said, smiling while sitting at the interview table and examining the game's final statistics.
"It felt good seeing all the hard work is paying off," Castillo said. "It's shooting 6 a.m. before practice, and sometimes at 5:30 a.m., and then it's shooting after practice later in the day, and then getting with our graduate assistants, and putting in more work."
While Haggerty put on a show for the second time in as many games at K-State, it was Castillo who issued the parting shots in his best game yet, calming draining a 3-pointer from in front of the K-State bench with 57 seconds remaining in regulation and then scoring the game's final points with a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
Seeing Castillo score in the final seconds was nothing new for Stewart, who shortly after moving to Bartlesville, met Nate Castillo, and his eighth-grade son, Antonio. Also, there was 4-year-old David. In time, David impressed Stewart as a 7-year-old running up and down the court and handling the basketball and shooting the basketball. As an eighth grader playing with 10th graders, David stood out to the point that when Stewart's Buddy Buckets AAU team needed to send an important game into overtime, Stewart grabbed his dry-erase board.
And he drew up the play for David.
"David was the go-to guy for us, and we were down two points with 8 seconds left, and I drew up the play for David," Stewart said. "He got the ball and went down the floor and scored to put us into overtime.
"It was significant for him being the youngest one and to take the ball and send it into overtime was pretty big. He's always kind of had that 'it' factor to him."
Castillo, sitting in the postgame news conference, indicated that he's getting used to the lights, which shine, and which shined over him during his biggest game, and which shined upon him and Stewart afterward on the basketball court.
"Sometimes just being out there and being with the crowd, seeing the K-State logo, and the lights — all of that plays into the effect," Castillo said. "So, I've been getting comfortable and getting used to that and that was big for me."
Understand the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Castillo worked hard for this time to come. His first and only time he scored in double figures arrived in a 17-point performance against UAPB last December, which was in the midst of a true freshman season in which Castillo averaged 2.4 points per game while appearing in 32 of 33 games last season with two starts. Oh sure, there were growing moments along the way — he shot 22.1% from the floor and 25.4% from 3-point range while averaging 0.6 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 10.0 minutes per game — but Tang saw something inside of Castillo before he put on a K-State uniform.
And it was on full display on Saturday night and during the second game of Castillo's sophomore season.
"From even the last game to this game, he's put in a ton of work on his shooting, and he can really shoot the ball," Tang said. "Every time he shoots it, I think it's going in when he sets his feet. But even last game to this game, he's just relaxing. When you put in all that work, you want to see those results happen right away. He relaxed and just played a really incredible game numbers wise.
"Then there's the next step."
Tang paused.
"Man, I'm so proud of David."
Funny thing about life. Sometimes a year can draw out like a decade, and sometimes a couple years can seem like a couple weeks. Tang remembers that day inside the hotel conference room in Oklahoma in April 2023. Tang was with his coaching staff and joined by top-50 prospect, Castillo, who had heard from 20 different Division I schools during his recruiting process.
"I'm talking and I probably went on for 20 minutes," Tang said. "Then David looks at me and says, 'Coach, you done? He said, 'I'm coming.'"
"We must've fallen out of our chairs," Tang continued. "We were running around the room. I have goosebumps right now thinking about it because of how exciting it was and how unexpected it was that he knew this was where he wanted to go."
And now Castillo is here, noticeably more comfortable from a year ago.
"He has a lot of potential," Haggerty said. "He didn't miss a shot. It's hard to go perfect from the field. He's a hard worker. I see him every day, and sometimes he'll be in there before me getting up shots. His hard work is paying off."
Tang projects bigger things for Castillo down the road.
Saturday's performance might just be the beginning of the second chapter in a Castillo story that appears destined for a happy ending.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again, that some point in time in his career, he's going to be our PG1 (starting point guard), and this year is a growing year for him to learn from an All-American and develop his own savvy also in it," Tang said. "I'm excited. I want him to really, really enjoy this and really work hard and really embrace learning all the little things you have to learn. That's going to allow him to be that in the future, but not think about the future too much, just think about right now."
The teacher and pupil shared a warm embrace before Stewart left Bramlage and began his drive home.
"The sky's the limit for David," Stewart said. "The key is keeping his confidence in his ability. Last year, he struggled with the ball at times, and that was always one of his strengths, to make shots. It's good to see him at the start of this season shooting the ball well and like he knows he's capable of shooting it. He's also always been a team guy. He wants to win, but he also wants to be out there to help the team win and he knows he can help the team win. When he gets out there, it's about what he can do to help the team win and do defensively."
Stewart paused.
"You have to be ready," Stewart continued. "You don't have to get ready when you stay ready. You always have to stay ready for when your opportunity is called and go out and produce."
Castillo came off the bench. He was ready. He scored 19 points in 12 minutes. He never missed a shot. The biggest performance of his career. He's a sophomore with many games ahead of him.
But Tang is thinking about the present.
"Right now," Tang said, "we could be really, really good, and he could be a big part of that.
"And he already is."
The teacher and pupil stood on the court, underneath the left side of the basket, as lights from high above an arena that emptied an hour ago illuminated them as they spoke for quite a while.
On the right was former K-State great Clent Stewart, who first met the young man when he was a 4-year-old boy in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Stewart, who scored nearly 1,400 points during a 242-game career at K-State from 2004 to 2008, knew the court that they stood upon at Bramlage Coliseum. He knew the basketball court quite well.
To Stewart's left stood current K-State sophomore guard David Castillo, who left Bartlesville High School with a school-record 1,594 points while averaging 23.7 points in his 67-game career. Stewart was Castillo's AAU head coach, and then his head coach at Bartlesville High School. Castillo transferred to Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas, for his senior season, and finished as a consensus four-star prospect, a top-15 point guard nationally, and the No. 1 prospect in the state of Kansas by all the recruiting services.
Stewart continues to journey to the Little Apple to watch his pupil play the game he loves. And the teacher and pupil stood and spoke for quite some time Saturday night after Castillo made a big statement — the biggest of his career — in a performance that he and Castillo and K-State head coach Jerome Tang and his coaching staff, and K-State players, and K-State fans might remember for a long time.
Castillo came off the bench to score a career-high 19 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the floor and 5-of-5 from 3-point range in 12 minutes. That's right — 12 minutes. He became just the eighth K-State player in history to go 5-of-5 or better from beyond the arc — joining Stewart, the former K-State great, and Castillo's former coach, and one of Castillo's biggest supporters.
"Pretty phenomenal," Stewart said, recalling the performance. "And David had 19 points, which was also my career high at K-State. I'm hoping he supersedes that. It's pretty special."
The teacher and pupil discussed many things on the basketball court after Castillo's breakout performance. In the end, it all sort of came down to one thing: The work that Castillo has put in to reach this point.
"He's gotten back to things that he was doing when he was young that got him to where he is today," Stewart said, "and that's now having the opportunity to shine upon the big stage, play well, and have the best game he's had from a scoring standpoint. It all goes back to the work he's put in.
"I'm trying to keep him true to doing those things, to staying positive, and staying confident in his abilities, and not just scoring but in helping his teammates, and running the team if he's at the point, and getting guys to their spots, and communicating on the court, and getting guys open as well as stepping up and making shots when the opportunities present themselves. I'm trying to keep his mind right and locked in. It's his second season, and this is where you want to see him take a step forward. I think he's already on that path."
Shortly after K-State thumped Bellarmine, 98-71, on Saturday night, All-American senior guard PJ Haggerty took a seat next to Castillo in the postgame interview room.
"Dang, DC, you really didn't miss a shot!" Haggerty said, smiling while sitting at the interview table and examining the game's final statistics.
"It felt good seeing all the hard work is paying off," Castillo said. "It's shooting 6 a.m. before practice, and sometimes at 5:30 a.m., and then it's shooting after practice later in the day, and then getting with our graduate assistants, and putting in more work."
While Haggerty put on a show for the second time in as many games at K-State, it was Castillo who issued the parting shots in his best game yet, calming draining a 3-pointer from in front of the K-State bench with 57 seconds remaining in regulation and then scoring the game's final points with a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
Seeing Castillo score in the final seconds was nothing new for Stewart, who shortly after moving to Bartlesville, met Nate Castillo, and his eighth-grade son, Antonio. Also, there was 4-year-old David. In time, David impressed Stewart as a 7-year-old running up and down the court and handling the basketball and shooting the basketball. As an eighth grader playing with 10th graders, David stood out to the point that when Stewart's Buddy Buckets AAU team needed to send an important game into overtime, Stewart grabbed his dry-erase board.
And he drew up the play for David.
"David was the go-to guy for us, and we were down two points with 8 seconds left, and I drew up the play for David," Stewart said. "He got the ball and went down the floor and scored to put us into overtime.
"It was significant for him being the youngest one and to take the ball and send it into overtime was pretty big. He's always kind of had that 'it' factor to him."
Castillo, sitting in the postgame news conference, indicated that he's getting used to the lights, which shine, and which shined over him during his biggest game, and which shined upon him and Stewart afterward on the basketball court.
"Sometimes just being out there and being with the crowd, seeing the K-State logo, and the lights — all of that plays into the effect," Castillo said. "So, I've been getting comfortable and getting used to that and that was big for me."
Understand the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Castillo worked hard for this time to come. His first and only time he scored in double figures arrived in a 17-point performance against UAPB last December, which was in the midst of a true freshman season in which Castillo averaged 2.4 points per game while appearing in 32 of 33 games last season with two starts. Oh sure, there were growing moments along the way — he shot 22.1% from the floor and 25.4% from 3-point range while averaging 0.6 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 10.0 minutes per game — but Tang saw something inside of Castillo before he put on a K-State uniform.
And it was on full display on Saturday night and during the second game of Castillo's sophomore season.
"From even the last game to this game, he's put in a ton of work on his shooting, and he can really shoot the ball," Tang said. "Every time he shoots it, I think it's going in when he sets his feet. But even last game to this game, he's just relaxing. When you put in all that work, you want to see those results happen right away. He relaxed and just played a really incredible game numbers wise.
"Then there's the next step."
Tang paused.
"Man, I'm so proud of David."
Funny thing about life. Sometimes a year can draw out like a decade, and sometimes a couple years can seem like a couple weeks. Tang remembers that day inside the hotel conference room in Oklahoma in April 2023. Tang was with his coaching staff and joined by top-50 prospect, Castillo, who had heard from 20 different Division I schools during his recruiting process.
"I'm talking and I probably went on for 20 minutes," Tang said. "Then David looks at me and says, 'Coach, you done? He said, 'I'm coming.'"
"We must've fallen out of our chairs," Tang continued. "We were running around the room. I have goosebumps right now thinking about it because of how exciting it was and how unexpected it was that he knew this was where he wanted to go."
And now Castillo is here, noticeably more comfortable from a year ago.
"He has a lot of potential," Haggerty said. "He didn't miss a shot. It's hard to go perfect from the field. He's a hard worker. I see him every day, and sometimes he'll be in there before me getting up shots. His hard work is paying off."
Tang projects bigger things for Castillo down the road.
Saturday's performance might just be the beginning of the second chapter in a Castillo story that appears destined for a happy ending.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again, that some point in time in his career, he's going to be our PG1 (starting point guard), and this year is a growing year for him to learn from an All-American and develop his own savvy also in it," Tang said. "I'm excited. I want him to really, really enjoy this and really work hard and really embrace learning all the little things you have to learn. That's going to allow him to be that in the future, but not think about the future too much, just think about right now."
The teacher and pupil shared a warm embrace before Stewart left Bramlage and began his drive home.
"The sky's the limit for David," Stewart said. "The key is keeping his confidence in his ability. Last year, he struggled with the ball at times, and that was always one of his strengths, to make shots. It's good to see him at the start of this season shooting the ball well and like he knows he's capable of shooting it. He's also always been a team guy. He wants to win, but he also wants to be out there to help the team win and he knows he can help the team win. When he gets out there, it's about what he can do to help the team win and do defensively."
Stewart paused.
"You have to be ready," Stewart continued. "You don't have to get ready when you stay ready. You always have to stay ready for when your opportunity is called and go out and produce."
Castillo came off the bench. He was ready. He scored 19 points in 12 minutes. He never missed a shot. The biggest performance of his career. He's a sophomore with many games ahead of him.
But Tang is thinking about the present.
"Right now," Tang said, "we could be really, really good, and he could be a big part of that.
"And he already is."
Players Mentioned
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