A Team with a Mature Approach to the Game

By: D. Scott Fritchen

After missing the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year, Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang hit reset heading into his fourth season in Manhattan, adjusting his coaching staff and bringing in what is believed to be the largest group of newcomers in school history.

K-State, which went 16-17 last season, began its first day of practice on Tuesday, and will play two exhibition games – at Missouri on October 24 and against Newman on October 31 – before opening the regular season against UNC Greensboro on November 4 at Bramlage Coliseum.

"I think I've been pretty transparent with the fact that I wasn't the best version of myself last year, and part of that was like, we were paying players and expected them to be professionals when they were still 18 to 23 years old," Tang said while speaking to reporters for the first time since a 70-56 loss to Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament on March 12. "My approach, expectation without grace leads to disappointment and frustration. I spent a lot of last year with expectations, but I didn't apply the grace that needed to be applied, so I was frustrated and disappointed a lot, and it reflected in how I taught the guys, how I cared for the guys, and just my response to certain things.

"It stopped me from being the best version I could've been that year."

The Tang era started with a bang as the Wildcats went 26-10 and advanced to the 2023 Elite Eight in his first season behind All-Americans Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson. The Wildcats followed that up with an appearance in the NIT before last season's struggles culminated in a losing record and tie for ninth place in the Big 12 Conference standings.

But Tang seemed hopeful prior to the first week of practice while speaking with reporters on Monday.

"I'm excited about this week and really, really looking forward to seeing how good we can become," he said, "and how quickly we can become at the level I see for this team."

Tang's coaching staff returns assistant coaches Jareem Dowling, Rodney Perry and Anthony Winchester. In the offseason, Tang made two key additions.

In April, Tang brought in Bill Peterson to serve as assistant coach. Tang and Peterson coached together at Baylor from 2017 to 2022 and helped guide the Bears to the 2021 NCAA Championship. Tang said that "every coach, player and person associated with K-State basketball will be better because of the addition of Coach Bill Peterson."

Among his coaching stops, Peterson served in various capacities in the NBA, including as special assistant with the Golden State Warriors, player development/scout with the Dallas Mavericks, and assistant coach/player development with the Milwaukee Bucks. He is credited with mentoring more than 20 NBA players, including Hall of Famers Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Karl Malone.

Then in May, Tang hired 20-year veteran head coach Matthew Driscoll to serve as Associate Head Coach and called him "a proven program builder and an exceptional teacher of the game." Tang and Driscoll coached alongside each other at Baylor from 2003 to 2009 as original members of Scott Drew's staff. Among his other Power 4 conference stops, Driscoll also served as an assistant coach at Wyoming, Clemson and Valparaiso.

"Personally, it's just been incredible," Tang said. "I love coach Peterson, love coach Matthew Driscoll."

Tang added, "Professionally, it's been awesome, because there's just so much you have to do. (Driscoll) told me the other day, 'Man, I've been a head coach, I know what the busy is like, but you just have, like, so much that you have to do.' There are just so many things, and to know you don't have to worry about certain things, or he sees certain things, so he knows how to get everybody else to see things that need to be seen. It just helps so much. I feel a weight lifted off just because I know things are going to get done, and I don't have to worry about as many things."

K-State coaches and players have had about four months to adjust to one another, and it included the recent annual Shark Week, which is devised to test the limits and skills of players while elevating leadership and teamwork among the squad.

"It was really good," Tang said. "Learned a lot. They learned a lot. Guys, I thought, did a great job. Everything that I wanted to happen in it happened. They had to come together. They had some setbacks and had to overcome some things. They had to rally around each other and help each other."

In the process, players presumably got to know one another a little bit better, as well.

This year's 14-player roster includes just four returners from a year ago with senior C.J. Jones, juniors Mobi Ikegwuruka and Taj Manning, and sophomore David Castillo.

The roster features All-American transfer guard P.J. Haggerty from Memphis and nine other newcomers, including fellow Division I transfers Abdi Bashir Jr. (Monmouth), Marcus Johnson (Bowling Green), Nate Johnson (Akron) and Khamari McGriff (UNC Wilmington).

"There's another level to play other than this, and I think (Haggerty) wants to get there," Tang said. "What he heard from all the NBA scouts, they wanted him to play hard all the time, to be a better on-the-ball defender, but I just need him to be P.J., you know?"

The 6-foot-4, 195-pound Haggerty, who played at TCU and Tulsa before spending last season at Memphis, declared for the 2025 NBA Draft and averaged 17.0 points in two scrimmages at the NBA Draft Combine before withdrawing his name in May. He has been a part of two conference championships and two NCAA Tournaments. Last year, he was the first Memphis player since 2008 to be named All-American by the Associated Press and was named AAC Player of the Year after finishing third nationally with 21.7 points per game. That included a career-high 42-point outburst against Wichita State.

Haggerty is currently the only Division I player to average at least 21.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game in each of the last two seasons.

"His teammates love him, and our guys really like each other, but I don't need him to be liked every day in practice," Tang said. "It's just bringing that killer instinct that he's going to bring on game day to practice, because it's going make his teammates better."

K-State also brought in what's believed to be its biggest recruiting haul of international players in history with Dorin Buca (Italy), Andrej Kostic (Serbia), Stephen Osei (Ontario) and Elias Rapieque (Germany).

Buca is 7-foot-2 and 254 pounds, and he is one of the tallest players in K-State history.

"Just at a young age, being around grown men was their livelihood, and therefore their approach to the game was different than the normal kid who grows up playing high school basketball or even at another college," Tang said. "They've been used to being around pros and having different goals."

True freshman Exavier Wilson, a three-star prospect by most recruiting services, didn't have far to travel. The native of Columbia, Missouri, brings some Midwest flavor to the squad after recording 1,707 points, 487 rebounds, 181 assists and 187 steals at Father Tolton Catholic High School.

"Exavier might be drinking out of a fire hose right now," Tang said. "Just a lot coming at him. But he's tough, fast and (graduate assistant and former Baylor player) Mark Vital calls him his little Pitbull. You just see he's oozing with potential, and he's not afraid. Those three things allow him to be a really good basketball player."

What stood out during summer basketball training?

"Their approach, and I think I can say that about most of the guys, if not all of them, they have a very mature approach to the game," Tang said. "They show up early, they work hard, they come back late. They have a real professional approach. They know how to talk to people, you know, whether it's their teammates, whether they need encouragement at times or they need somebody to get on them at times. They take coaching well, and they bring really great energy to practice, and particularly Abdi. Abdi's got a gift for leadership and just love the energy that he brings."

Asked what players in particular have stood out in the preseason, Tang replied, "We got a couple of dudes that are different."

"Mobi's athleticism is different, Abdi's shot-making ability, Andrej's shot-making ability is a little bit different, and Dorin's size is different," Tang continued. "There's those multiple guys that add something a little bit different, and then whenever you have a returning All-American in P.J. Haggerty, that's going to help you. I think it's a collection. Our goal is to figure out how we can make the sum better than the individual parts by themselves."

There appears to be an abundance of options for K-State, which is largely full of new faces, skills and personalities. While one of the defining shortcomings of struggling K-State a year ago was player chemistry, early signs suggest this squad is far ahead of those woes a year ago.

And they're just getting started.

"Our staff did a great job bringing in talented, mature guys together, and now it's up to those guys to figure out which eight guys are going to play," Tang said. "Whichever eight guys prove they can be consistent and provide the toughness and competitiveness that we need, and shot-making ability, those guys will then determine how they are used.

"I'm excited about finding out, to answer the question in the next couple weeks here, which guys are going to separate themselves."