Jerome Tang Previews the Season-Opening Week

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head men's basketball coach Jerome Tang met with the media on Monday afternoon (Nov. 3) to preview the Wildcats' season-opening week, which starts in Tuesday's opener against UNC Greensboro.

Links to the audio and a transcript of Tang's availability are above.

K-State officially opens its 122nd season of men's basketball on Tuesday night when the Wildcats play host to the Spartans (0-0) at Bramlage Coliseum. The game will tip off at 7:01 p.m., CT on ESPN+. It will be the first of 4 consecutive home games to start the 2025-26 season.

Led by fifth-year coach Mike Jones, UNC Greensboro returns just 3 lettermen from a squad that posted a 20-12 record and finished second in the SoCon with a 13-5 mark. The Spartans, who welcome 12 newcomers with 6 transfers, were picked fifth in the preseason SoCon poll out of 10 teams by the league coaches.

This will be the first meeting between the two schools.

K-State is 94-27 all-time in season openers dating back to the first season in 1903, including an 82-10 mark at home. The Wildcats have a 30-3 record in openers played at Bramlage Coliseum.

Tang is 2-1 in openers, as the Wildcats successfully opened his tenure with a 93-59 win over UTRGV on Nov. 7, 2022, before an 89-65 win over New Orleans to open 2024-25. The lone loss came to No. 21/22 USC in the Hall of Fame Series Las Vegas event in 2023.

K-State continues its homestand on Saturday night when the Wildcats play Bellarmine (0-0). This will be the second meeting between the schools and the first since 2022.

The Wildcats have been impressive at Bramlage Coliseum under Tang, posting a 39-10 mark with an 18-2 mark in non-conference play. Last season, the team went 10-5 at Bramlage Coliseum with losses to LSU, No. 12/11 Houston, Texas Tech, Arizona State and No. 10/10 Iowa State.

Tickets for the 2025-26 season are currently on sale with a variety of options and packages. Fans can purchase tickets by calling toll free at (800) 221.CATS (2287) and/or online at www.kstatesports.com/tickets.

HEAD COACH JEROME TANG
On if it feels like time has flown by heading into season four at K-State…
"I am excited about this group. That's a pretty cool question, because [Director of Basketball Operations] Bailey [Bachamp] asked me that the other day, and she was like, 'So does it feel like year four?' And I said 'Well, I feel like natural being here, but I can't say that, like I'm comfortable, you know, that's kind of thing.' It's still, you know, when you do the different Jerome Tang pregame show, come on, you know, that's just crazy to me. So, some of the stuff is still like I have to settle into it. But the basketball part of things, feel pretty good about it."

On the strengths of this team…
"We can make shots, we're unselfish and then care. They care, have a big care factor."

On the concerns about the defense…
"Oh, I have a huge concern about it. But, you know, we've been reading a book as a staff together, and it's a leadership book, and one of the points they say, good leaders don't focus on what you can't do, they focus on what you can do. And I am by nature, 'We didn't do this, we didn't do that, we didn't do that.' Like I always think, how do we keep getting better but I don't know that is necessarily a strength of leadership, and so I'm trying to focus on what we can do and then make marginal increases in the areas that I feel like we can improve."

On learning when to focus on different aspects of the game…
"Yeah, you know, there's a communication level you have to have, and there's a language that you have to speak, and we all have to use the same vocabulary, so that, you know, we're all on the same page, and certain words mean certain things for us, that might have meant something different for them, and the last place they were at, and so there's a lot of that that it'll just, it'll take time for it to get to where we wanted to get to. But it won't be a lack of effort on their part. You know, at times it's just, your paralysis by analysis, you know, like, what was I supposed to say? And then it's like, man, just say something, you know, so that we can all get on the same page."

On what he sees from the UNC Greensboro team…
"Man, that's a tough one, because all of [head coach Mike Jones] Mike's friends, and I consider myself a friend with Mike, that they scrimmaged, didn't give any information out about this team, none. I mean, I think they scrimmage, did a private close scrimmage with Longwood, and like, not a word. Like we were told couldn't say anything. And so Mike, really good job with that. And so I have absolutely no film, they have a bunch of guys that they got on transfers. And so, you know, we've got film of what they [players] do well at their last place, but not necessarily what they're going to do here with him [Jones]. But knowing him, and you know, just his history, they've always played tremendous defense, had a great effective field goal percentage, force you to take tough twos. And he's, you know, iced on the side and had dropped ball screen coverage in the middle, really physical rebounders. And then on offense, they run really good stuff and get the ball to three sides, multiple ball screen actions that you have to guard. And they really use the shot clock to make you work and take very efficient shots in what they want to do. So defensively, if they can turn you over, they get out and run but then after that, if they don't have a good one, they're going to make you sit and guard. So you know, that's a Mike team. You know, he was in the NCAA Tournament just a couple of years ago, and they won 20 games last year. And so, you know, they're a really good team, and he's a really good coach. And so it's going to be like, we're going to have to be ready to play, because I know they're going to be ready to play."

On if he anticipates tightening the rotation compared to playing the exhibition games…
"Yeah, it'll shrink some, it'll shrink some. I don't know that we're in condition to play, at some spots, to play 30 minutes yet, so we can't really shrink it a ton, but I could see it tightening up some."

On his favorite memories from his time here and what he tells recruits…
"I think I'd say talking to the team the first time, Markquis [Nowell] and those guys. Obviously making the NCAA tournament, you know, the first year. Every time I go into Bram [Bramlage Coliseum] man and the student section, that's just such a special thing, you know. I would say that's my favorite, like going into Bram and the student section, and that's just really, really cool. And, you know, I tell recruits coming here that we always tell them, 'Man, go other places and eat everybody's steak and lobster and then come on here and get a home cooked meal.' Because we don't go to restaurants much when kids come on campus for visits, we do it at home and we cook them a home cooked meal, and we spend time with our family. Because, you know, I say all the time, if the only time you spend time together is on the basketball court, you're really not a family, you know. So our guys, our staff, all of us, we spend a lot of time at each other's home, to build the type of relationships that allow you to weather changes in our profession, right. Like some of the stuff that's going on, you see guys retiring and stopping and moving because, you know, there's just so much volatility and then there's the pressure to win on top of that. I mean, like, are there any head coaches in the SEC right now in football. I'm just saying, like there's just the pressure that goes along with that, and then everything, and it's just mounting, because the money is bigger, right. The more the money grows, and the more people invest in it, the more say they want to have and the leash becomes shorter and shorter. So if you're gonna, like, operate under that pressure and under all of that, right, you might enjoy being around the people you're around. And I love being around this group."

On how to navigate challenges in getting better throughout the season…
"You know, I used to be like 'Hey, I don't want to peak too soon,' but forget that crap, I want to get as good as we possibly can, as early as we can, and see how long we can. Because if you don't, if you wait too long to get going, then you know, like you might drop some that are going to end up hurting you later on. So we're just going to try and figure out a way to win the next game and just do that and then see how it builds. You know, when you had guys for three and four years, you could do that because you knew experience was gonna allow you to win some of the early games, experience and talent. Well, now the teams you play earlier, like my team is not more experienced than the team I'm getting ready to play tomorrow night, you know, because he's [Jones] got a bunch of new guys, and we got a bunch of new guys. So anything can happen. So we're just gonna try and figure out. But that's a really good question and it's something that I used to think about, but now it's just, let's just win now."

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