Keep Getting 1% Better

By: D. Scott Fritchen

It was just after 2:30 a.m. Wednesday when Jerome Tang reached his home from the flight back to Manhattan and it was about 5:00 a.m. when the Kansas State head coach wound down after the Wildcats 71-70 win at Arizona State in Tempe, Arizona. Tang had coached in big road games before — heck, K-State beat No. 6 Texas and No. 19 Baylor in back-to-back road games to jumpstart the 2022-23 league season — but this, too, was gratifying: Two road games. Two wins.

The 80-61 win at Iowa State snapped the Cyclones' 29-game home winning streak. The one-point win at Arizona State marked the largest deficit overcome in a road conference game and gave the Wildcats four straight wins for the first time in two years. The Wildcats — nobody gave them a chance. Once saddled with a six-game losing skid, they are now 11-11 overall and 5-6 in the Big 12 Conference. Two big back-to-back road wins. Two of them.

"Every tree bears in its season, and I think we're in the season where the tree is bearing fruit," Tang says at a news conference Thursday. "I just hope this season lasts through April."

Now comes the biggie: KU. And from Goodland to Olathe and everywhere in between, everyone in the state knows there is nothing quite like the Dillons Sunflower Showdown, one of the longest-running rivalry games in college basketball.

K-State will host No. 16 Kansas, 16-6 and 7-4, in Saturday's 1:00 p.m. tipoff (ESPN) at Bramlage Coliseum. In addition to being the sixth-most played series in Division I, it is also the second-longest active rivalry as the schools have met every year since 1907.

Kansas leads the series 59-8 in the Big 12 era, but K-State has won the last two at home. Both were overtime wins.

"For our fans, it's different," Tang says. "As coach, I don't want it to be different. I'd like that type of crowd and that type of energy for every single game, but this game is a little different to our fans, and they bring a little different energy to the homecourt advantage."

Kansas got the best of K-State the first time the teams met on January 18. The Wildcats trailed 14-0 to start the game and could never quite fully recover in an 84-74 loss at Allen Fieldhouse. The 10-point loss was the closest at Allen Fieldhouse since a 73-72 loss in 2018.

Coleman Hawkins had 15 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds to become the first K-State player to have a points/assist double-double in Allen Fieldhouse. David N'Guessan had 13 points and Max Jones added 11. Dug McDaniel and Ugonna Onyenso each finished with nine points while David Castillo added six.

Hunter Dickinson (25 points) and Zeke Mayo (24 points) combined for 49 points for the Jayhawks, who shot 55.4% from the floor. Fellow senior Dajuan Harris Jr. added 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and two blocks.

"First of all, we can't start off down 14-0 or 20-4, because they had a 16-point lead with 9 minutes to go," Tang says. "From that point on we outscored them, but we can't give a team that good that kind of a lead."

K-State has proven its moxie these past four games in wins against West Virginia (73-60), Oklahoma State (85-57), at Iowa State (80-61) and at Arizona State (71-70) leading up to Saturday's showdown in Manhattan.

"I was concerned about the Arizona State game," Tang says. "You didn't have to get the guys up for No. 3 Iowa State. We knew we had their full attention. You hope you had their full attention for Arizona State. With how the game started maybe we didn't, but Arizona State quickly gained our attention and our guys locked in.

"This game, we won't have to do a lot to get our guys' attention."

It's about 2:20 p.m. Thursday as Tang speaks during his news conference. He hasn't yet spoken to his team today. He will at 5:30 p.m. And what might his message be to his team?

At the news conference, Tang pulls up his gray sweatshirt to reveal a purple T-shirt. Written in white block letters across the chest is: "1% BETTER."

"It's the next thing," he says. "My shirt under here says, '1% BETTER.' That's going to be the message. Today, we have to get 1% better. We have to go 1-0 in our film session and 1-0 in our walkthrough and 1-0 with how they rehab tonight. We have to prepare to win. We have to do the right things today so tomorrow we can have a great practice. So, it's just about going 1-0 and getting 1% better every day."

The question becomes this: What is different about this team? It's seemingly night and day from the Wildcats squad that suffered losses to LSU, Liberty, St. John's, Drake and Wichita State.

"I feel like I've been saying the same thing from the beginning when the season started," Tang replies. "We weren't playing well, and I said we don't have to be good in November and December. When we want to be really good is in February and March. We're in February. When we were losing games at the start of the Big 12, we were close, but everybody just kept seeing the results, and they didn't see every day in practice the improvement and energy the guys had, and the belief that was coming about."

The guys believe.

The fans do, too.

It could be a heck of a Saturday in the Little Apple.

"I'm so proud of the team and different individuals and how much growth has taken place," Tang says. "I'm proud of our staff and how they keep fighting, grinding, and not giving up.

"I'm proud of our fans for sticking with us."

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

David Castillo

Coleman Hawkins

Max Jones

Dug McDaniel

David N'Guessan

Ugonna Onyenso

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