Nov 04, 2026 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
"We only had one chance to come out here for the first time, and that part is really, really tough," Casey Alexander says, sitting at a long, black table and in front of a purple backdrop, the arms of his lavender quarter-zip crossed while faint droplets of sweat dot his forehead against the bright light inside the innards of Bramlage Coliseum in his first postgame Kansas State news conference on a trying Tuesday night.
Alexander is a 54-year-old and the 27th head coach at Kansas State, hired on March 13, and who has experienced great success over the course of his career as a head coach — a journey that began at Stetson and progressed to Lipscomb before he reached his alma mater of Belmont, where he went 166-60 with multiple conference titles. He has won 303 career games. He also has 10 consecutive 20-win seasons — something that only Gonzaga's Mark Few, Houston's Kelvin Sampson and Kansas' Bill Self can boast — while averaging 24 wins per season over that span.
Alexander's exciting, high-tempo offenses have ranked either at the top or near the top of Division I basketball in efficiency for many years, and his teams carry a quiet swagger when the lights come on.
But alas, heartbreak swept through Alexander, his coaching staff, his support staff, his roster of 13 newcomers and one returner, and the thousands of fans who at times stood and cheered and other times bit their nails, and in the end filed out of the arena doors, feeling badly after the Wildcats' 68-66 loss to South Dakota State in the first game of the Alexander era.
"We're not very good now," Alexander says. "I've loved coaching this team, they've been super receptive to what they've been asked to do, and they've really come together, and I have no concerns about anything outside of the X's and O's of playing the game. That gives you a great chance to be successful.
"We've got good leaders, but not good leaders who've been with us before, and that's just going to take some time to develop. You'd love to see it come together right off the bat, but it's going to take some time, so there's a lot out there for us, for sure. We're a long way away from being a finished product — I hope."
South Dakota State, which transitioned to Division 1 in 2004, was coming off a 14-18 season in its first campaign under head coach Bryan Peterson, who served as assistant coach for six years prior to leading the Jackrabbits. South Dakota State's last win against a major conference team was a 71-68 win at Iowa State on December 12, 2020. This year, South Dakota State was picked third in the Summit League preseason poll behind North Dakota State and St. Thomas, and ahead of Omaha, South Dakota, North Dakota, Oral Roberts and Kansas City.
In a game that featured three ties and five lead changes, K-State trailed 35-28 at halftime and it trailed for 24 minutes and 22 seconds overall. What Alexander saw was 7-0, 230-pound Pape N'Diaye, a junior transfer who formerly played at UNLV and Xavier, come off the bench to score a career-high 18 points and make all eight of his free throw attempts while also grabbing eight rebounds in less than 19 minutes. What Alexander saw was Isaiah Abraham, a 6-foot-7, 205 junior transfer who formerly played at UConn and Georgetown, score 16 points in 32 minutes as a starting forward. What Alexander also saw was 6-foot-1, 190-pound senior transfer guard Brandon Rechsteiner, a team captain, score 16 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-11 on 3-point attempts, while adding seven rebounds in a team-high 34 minutes of action.
There was plenty of action, all right, as two teams fought madly on the court, and in the end, everyone held their breath as Rechsteiner's runner in the lane, in slow motion, bounced off the rim, and the final buzzer echoed through the arena, and he fell to the hardwood and laid on his back for several seconds with his hands over his face with so many thoughts likely running through his head during the sudden defeat.
"It hurts, but stuff happens," Rechsteiner says. "It hurts, but the season's not over. You come back and know, man, we don't have the talent to not be the most energetic, tough team. We have to move on and understand we have to show up every game."
As for why Alexander will have success at K-State?
"He's going to bring in the right guys, and we're going to play hard every night," Rechsteiner says. "I don't think there was a lack of effort tonight, but a lack of focus. He's going to keep harping on that. This is game one. It hurts now, it stings now, and he told us it should sting, but in a few months, we're not going to remember, when we're in Big 12 play."
But before K-State opens its Big 12 season at Baylor on January 2, the Wildcats will face teams like Creighton, Gonzaga, Alabama, Seton Hall and Wichita State in a 14-game non-conference slate. The Wildcats next play CSUN in Friday's 8:00 p.m. tipoff at Bramlage.
Tuesday was game one of the Alexander era. And win or lose, he didn't take the opportunity lightly.
"My overwhelming feeling before the game was just a sense of gratitude for all the hands that have been involved since mid-March that have helped us get to a place where we're starting our tenure at Kansas State, and not me, but the whole staff, 13 out of 14 players, and it's a real body of work," Alexander says. "The disappointment is what we had to show for it tonight wasn't very much. It was going to be the start, whether we won or not. It's going to be a long season, I hope it's a long tenure, and a long career. We've won a ton of games, but we've also lost some real crappy ones.
"This one today feels like a real crappy one."
K-State shot 41.5 percent (22-of-53) from the floor, including 28.6 percent (8-of-28) on 3-point attempts, and had 34 rebounds, 12 assists and 12 steals in its opener. South Dakota State shot 43.9 percent (25-of-57) from the floor, including 41.7 percent (10-of-24) on 3-point attempts, and had 27 rebounds, 12 assists and 10 turnovers.
"Not great. At all," Alexander says. "We had our moments, but I don't want this in any way shape or form to be a team that has to play elite offensively to win a game. I'm most disappointed with how we executed down the stretch. I haven't looked at the book of stats, but they scored I felt like every possession just about. If they didn't turn it over, they scored. They got better shots. I was really disappointed I couldn't get us into a better place offensively."
There will be many more chances ahead and more opportunities for K-State to execute and for players to further develop and to further gel, but don't call the first game after this lengthy journey from Alexander's hiring on March 13 to tonight a relief — "I wouldn't use the word 'relief' at all," Alexander wants you to know — but call it a start, as Alexander rises from his postgame news conference on Tuesday night and walks out of the interview room, shaking hands with reporters, and crossing a hallway that reveals the brightly-lit basketball court, still and silent, and awaiting the next contest.
But before any of that, before Alexander rises from his seat, and before the walk past the basketball court, the successful head coach who left his alma mater to chase this chance at K-State, does one last thing.
He thanks K-State and its fans.
"The students were awesome," Alexander says. "I'm really disappointed for them. Really, that's the hardest part as I sit here right now. There are so many people who love K-State and were ready for the season to start, so they all have the right to be disappointed. We're disappointed for them. We're sorry we let them down.
"As far as the students go, and really the community at large, it's why we're all here. We just want to be a part of it with them, you know? They'll keep coming back because they love K-State."
He pauses.
"We'll get better," he says, "and we'll reward them more often than not."
"We only had one chance to come out here for the first time, and that part is really, really tough," Casey Alexander says, sitting at a long, black table and in front of a purple backdrop, the arms of his lavender quarter-zip crossed while faint droplets of sweat dot his forehead against the bright light inside the innards of Bramlage Coliseum in his first postgame Kansas State news conference on a trying Tuesday night.
Alexander is a 54-year-old and the 27th head coach at Kansas State, hired on March 13, and who has experienced great success over the course of his career as a head coach — a journey that began at Stetson and progressed to Lipscomb before he reached his alma mater of Belmont, where he went 166-60 with multiple conference titles. He has won 303 career games. He also has 10 consecutive 20-win seasons — something that only Gonzaga's Mark Few, Houston's Kelvin Sampson and Kansas' Bill Self can boast — while averaging 24 wins per season over that span.
Alexander's exciting, high-tempo offenses have ranked either at the top or near the top of Division I basketball in efficiency for many years, and his teams carry a quiet swagger when the lights come on.
But alas, heartbreak swept through Alexander, his coaching staff, his support staff, his roster of 13 newcomers and one returner, and the thousands of fans who at times stood and cheered and other times bit their nails, and in the end filed out of the arena doors, feeling badly after the Wildcats' 68-66 loss to South Dakota State in the first game of the Alexander era.
"We're not very good now," Alexander says. "I've loved coaching this team, they've been super receptive to what they've been asked to do, and they've really come together, and I have no concerns about anything outside of the X's and O's of playing the game. That gives you a great chance to be successful.
"We've got good leaders, but not good leaders who've been with us before, and that's just going to take some time to develop. You'd love to see it come together right off the bat, but it's going to take some time, so there's a lot out there for us, for sure. We're a long way away from being a finished product — I hope."
South Dakota State, which transitioned to Division 1 in 2004, was coming off a 14-18 season in its first campaign under head coach Bryan Peterson, who served as assistant coach for six years prior to leading the Jackrabbits. South Dakota State's last win against a major conference team was a 71-68 win at Iowa State on December 12, 2020. This year, South Dakota State was picked third in the Summit League preseason poll behind North Dakota State and St. Thomas, and ahead of Omaha, South Dakota, North Dakota, Oral Roberts and Kansas City.
In a game that featured three ties and five lead changes, K-State trailed 35-28 at halftime and it trailed for 24 minutes and 22 seconds overall. What Alexander saw was 7-0, 230-pound Pape N'Diaye, a junior transfer who formerly played at UNLV and Xavier, come off the bench to score a career-high 18 points and make all eight of his free throw attempts while also grabbing eight rebounds in less than 19 minutes. What Alexander saw was Isaiah Abraham, a 6-foot-7, 205 junior transfer who formerly played at UConn and Georgetown, score 16 points in 32 minutes as a starting forward. What Alexander also saw was 6-foot-1, 190-pound senior transfer guard Brandon Rechsteiner, a team captain, score 16 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-11 on 3-point attempts, while adding seven rebounds in a team-high 34 minutes of action.
There was plenty of action, all right, as two teams fought madly on the court, and in the end, everyone held their breath as Rechsteiner's runner in the lane, in slow motion, bounced off the rim, and the final buzzer echoed through the arena, and he fell to the hardwood and laid on his back for several seconds with his hands over his face with so many thoughts likely running through his head during the sudden defeat.
"It hurts, but stuff happens," Rechsteiner says. "It hurts, but the season's not over. You come back and know, man, we don't have the talent to not be the most energetic, tough team. We have to move on and understand we have to show up every game."
As for why Alexander will have success at K-State?
"He's going to bring in the right guys, and we're going to play hard every night," Rechsteiner says. "I don't think there was a lack of effort tonight, but a lack of focus. He's going to keep harping on that. This is game one. It hurts now, it stings now, and he told us it should sting, but in a few months, we're not going to remember, when we're in Big 12 play."
But before K-State opens its Big 12 season at Baylor on January 2, the Wildcats will face teams like Creighton, Gonzaga, Alabama, Seton Hall and Wichita State in a 14-game non-conference slate. The Wildcats next play CSUN in Friday's 8:00 p.m. tipoff at Bramlage.
Tuesday was game one of the Alexander era. And win or lose, he didn't take the opportunity lightly.
"My overwhelming feeling before the game was just a sense of gratitude for all the hands that have been involved since mid-March that have helped us get to a place where we're starting our tenure at Kansas State, and not me, but the whole staff, 13 out of 14 players, and it's a real body of work," Alexander says. "The disappointment is what we had to show for it tonight wasn't very much. It was going to be the start, whether we won or not. It's going to be a long season, I hope it's a long tenure, and a long career. We've won a ton of games, but we've also lost some real crappy ones.
"This one today feels like a real crappy one."
K-State shot 41.5 percent (22-of-53) from the floor, including 28.6 percent (8-of-28) on 3-point attempts, and had 34 rebounds, 12 assists and 12 steals in its opener. South Dakota State shot 43.9 percent (25-of-57) from the floor, including 41.7 percent (10-of-24) on 3-point attempts, and had 27 rebounds, 12 assists and 10 turnovers.
"Not great. At all," Alexander says. "We had our moments, but I don't want this in any way shape or form to be a team that has to play elite offensively to win a game. I'm most disappointed with how we executed down the stretch. I haven't looked at the book of stats, but they scored I felt like every possession just about. If they didn't turn it over, they scored. They got better shots. I was really disappointed I couldn't get us into a better place offensively."
There will be many more chances ahead and more opportunities for K-State to execute and for players to further develop and to further gel, but don't call the first game after this lengthy journey from Alexander's hiring on March 13 to tonight a relief — "I wouldn't use the word 'relief' at all," Alexander wants you to know — but call it a start, as Alexander rises from his postgame news conference on Tuesday night and walks out of the interview room, shaking hands with reporters, and crossing a hallway that reveals the brightly-lit basketball court, still and silent, and awaiting the next contest.
But before any of that, before Alexander rises from his seat, and before the walk past the basketball court, the successful head coach who left his alma mater to chase this chance at K-State, does one last thing.
He thanks K-State and its fans.
"The students were awesome," Alexander says. "I'm really disappointed for them. Really, that's the hardest part as I sit here right now. There are so many people who love K-State and were ready for the season to start, so they all have the right to be disappointed. We're disappointed for them. We're sorry we let them down.
"As far as the students go, and really the community at large, it's why we're all here. We just want to be a part of it with them, you know? They'll keep coming back because they love K-State."
He pauses.
"We'll get better," he says, "and we'll reward them more often than not."
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's Basketball
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