Jerome Tang shares what Kansas State needs to do in second half vs. Kansas: 'No knockout punches, just gotta keep throwing jabs'

Kansas State carried a 44-39 lead over Kansas into halftime on Tuesday night in a game that looks poised to go down to the final stages. After building up a double-digit lead, Kansas State saw the Jayhawks climb back in to the contest.

Speaking with ESPN sideline reporter Kris Budden before addressing his team at halftime, Wildcats head coach Jerome Tang said it’ll take another 20 minutes of good basketball to vanquish the No. 2 team in the country. He’s confident that his squad — ranked No. 13 — can do it.

“Poise. It’s a jab game. No knockout punches, just gotta keep throwing jabs,” Tang said.

Budden had asked Tang how his team got out to a big early lead — the Wildcats led by as much as 14 points at times. Tang didn’t seem to be thinking about it much, noting that his Kansas State team needed to finish out the game before that big early lead could mean much.

“Great fans, guys are locked in, it’s a great environment. A wonderful basketball game. But it’s 40 minutes. And early leads mean nothing if we don’t defend and rebound,” Tang said.

LOOK: Kansas State allows fan to keep NSFW sign ahead of rivalry matchup with Kansas

While the message being relayed isn’t actually true, the sign one Kansas State fan had ahead of a big-time Big 12 matchup with rival Kansas tells you everything you need to know: These two teams don’t like each other. And the play on words was about as good as they come, albeit raunchy.

Kansas guard Gradey Dick stands at 6-foot, 8-inches tall and weighs 205 pounds, according to the Kansas men’s basketball roster. Kansas State forward Keyontae Johnson is 6-foot-6 weighs in at 230 pounds. So the message on the sign — one that arena security apparently had a debate about allowing — drew a size comparison between the two.

“Our Johnson is bigger than your Dick,” the sign read.

Looked like there was some debate about whether this Keyontae Johnson/Gradey Dick sign would be allowed in the student section. But they let the kid keep it, LOL. pic.twitter.com/CgbOI4f1oo

— Kellis Robinett (@KellisRobinett) January 17, 2023

Kansas State beat writer Kellis Robinett, who posted the picture of the sign, added his own note.

“Looked like there was some debate about whether this Keyontae Johnson/Gradey Dick sign would be allowed in the student section. But they let the kid keep it, LOL.”

Absolute factual nature of the sign notwithstanding, it safe to saw it’ll be a pretty hostile environment in Manhattan for this Top 15 conference showdown.