Rapid Recap: How Kansas State flipped the switch in Big 12 win

KANSAS STATE PRACTICE

Kansas State guard Desi Sills mentioned how hard and difficult the practices were following the loss to Texas. Markquis Nowell and Tykei Greene both alluded to repetitively having to do the “circle the wagon” rebounding drill.

Head coach Jerome Tang felt that his team needed to receive an important message and the way for him to do that was to confront them with the adversity of that losing streak and to be the jackal. He made it uncomfortable and had those in the K-State locker room walking on eggshells.

It was all for a purpose, and he knows he can’t use that maneuver all that often or else it loses the effect and he’d be tuned out. But he had to press that button after Saturday, and it seemed to work to success for Tuesday night’s performance.

WEAKENED TCU

“That wasn’t the same TCU team,” Jerome Tang admitted after the game when speaking about some of his team’s success. He didn’t want to take anything away from what Kansas State accomplished, but the Horned Frogs are categorically different when they don’t have Mike Miles or Eddie Lampkin at full strength.

In fact, Tang believes that Jamie Dixon and TCU may be the best team in the Big 12 when they are completely healthy, sharing that they have all the pieces to win six straight in the NCAA Tournament in March.

CONVERSATION BETWEEN TYKEI AND TANG

A conversation took place earlier this year between Tang and Ismael Massoud where they were transparent with one another and had an honest interaction about what needed to happen. Both were able to state any concerns or present any adjustments or ideas as well.

It was answered with some of the best basketball of the year from Massoud. He began to click a bit more on the offensive end and got hot from three-point range, was diving for loose balls and became less of a liability on the defensive end.

He may be going through a bit of a cold stretch and only saw four minutes versus TCU on Tuesday, but it was a pivotal and meaningful moment for K-State and it was a result of an important and necessary discussion between a player and his head coach.

The same has happened for Tykei Greene. He walked into the office and wanted to know what he could do to grab more minutes or help the team win. His adjustment has been going from a guy that has over 80 starts and over 1,000 points to a role player that doesn’t necessarily see consistent playing time.

But it shows his unselfishness that he took it upon himself to walk into the room and ask his head coach what he could do to help the team win. It shows the character of the team as a whole to have guys willing to focus more on the whole rather than themselves.

Tang told Greene to just be ready for his moment. When it came in Bramlage Coliseum against the Horned Frogs, he was more than that. He scored 13 points and was a rebound shy from his first double-double in a Kansas State uniform.

A man and his band@coachjtang x @KStatePride pic.twitter.com/GOoGN5NXad

— K-State Men's Basketball (@KStateMBB) February 8, 2023

BLOSSOMING AT K-STATE

The scout team was praised by both Nowell and Greene after the win over TCU. They couldn’t speak enough about how good of looks they are receiving from that group of guys. Tang echoed that sentiment, even sharing that there are days that he leaves practice thinking about how good that K-State can be next season.

One player that was specifically pointed out was true freshman forward Taj Manning. Greene raved about how much better Manning is making him personally, and said that the redshirting Wildcat even reminds him of himself. Nowell called Manning a monster on the glass and said he was a magnet to the ball.

Tang loves that Manning embraces guarding Keyontae Johnson every day in practice to make life tough on him so that his teammate is even better in the games against the Big 12’s defender. The Kansas State head coach took it a step further by expressing that Manning will be an all-conference player at K-State.

FLIPPING THE SWITCH

How did Kansas State flip the switch and sprint out to the 21-point win after allowing TCU to hang around a bit? Nowell bluntly said that his head coach got on their butts and Greene identified that it was about K-State locking in more on defense.