Rapid Recap: Jerome Tang addresses the Kansas State offensive explosion

KANSAS STATE LEARNING ON THE ROAD

I asked Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang where he thought they made the biggest strides since the only loss of the season. K-State did fall to Butler at the end of November, and they felt like they went through some growing pains about how they travel.

The approach that they took to Indianapolis just didn’t work for the Wildcats. As a staff, they felt like they didn’t have enough energy and appeared sluggish on the court. They changed that up, and it has paid dividends for Kansas State.

More than anything, they learned what to do and what not to do when hitting the road. It worked in Kansas City and Austin and they hope to carry it to Waco.

DEFENDING KEYONTAE

No, not Keyontae Johnson, though the K-State star should be a handful for a Baylor defense that is not exactly clicking on all cylinders at the moment. I mean Keyontae George. The true freshman for the Bears is humming and a lot to handle.

Tang is aware of him. He helped recruit Scott Drew’s stud. For a guy as talented and as skilled and athletic as him, it’s not necessarily about stopping him or completely shutting him down. That will never happen in all likelihood.

It’s more about making everything hard for him. Kansas State wants to force him into difficult shots.

HOT HAND

They haven’t just learned what the best way is to travel since the Butler loss. Tang also appreciates the growth that Kansas State has made, specifically versus the Longhorns, in knowing who to find on the floor and at what time.

Earlier in the year, Johnson would be scorching from the field and not missing. There was another game where Cam Carter was shooting lights out from the perimeter as well. But as a staff and as a team, K-State didn’t keep going to those players enough when they were piping hot from the field.

That changed the last few games and especially against Texas. They were feeding Carter the ball when he began to stroke it from the outside. The same was the case when both Johnson and Markquis Nowell found a groove.

TANG’S CULTURE BUILD

Culture is a buzzword for a lot of programs, and we hear it a bunch from Chris Klieman and company at Kansas State. But it’s also true and prevalent with Tang, his staff and his roster in Manhattan. They have Sunday dinners, they do birthday parties and hang out often.

Like Tang said soon after being hired at K-State, you’re not really a family if the only time you all come together is in the gym. And they have been walking testimony of that with how many times they convene all at once.

Carter even noted how Tang was so intentional and purposeful about it that he put every single player up in the same apartment. He sold the players a vision of what it would look like when he recruited them, they believed in it and and now it is coming true.

Because of that, they listen to the staff and trust them. Him being passionate about winning rubs off on them and the team does the little things in order to win, and part of that is owning their specific roles and doing everything it takes to come out on top.

IMPROVING K-STATE BENCH

For much of this season, Jerome Tang has not been shy about criticizing his bench. They have been thin in that department, to say the least. The only player he has outwardly gushed about has been Desi Sills, often calling him a sixth starter.

It also hasn’t helped that both Abayomi Iyiola and David N’Guessan have each went through an injury spell, too. In fact, N’Guessan is still in the midst of one and is considered day-to-day in the lead up to the Baylor game.

But the Kansas State head coach commended his team’s next man up mentality on Friday afternoon and lauded Tykei Greene and Ismael Massoud for keeping their head down, working hard and not pouting over the last few weeks.

DISCUSSION ON DEFENSE

The question was asked about how disappointed that Tang was in his defense after Tuesday’s performance in which they allowed 103 points to Texas. However, he wasn’t too upset about it, to be honest.

He chalked it up that pace and style of play will be conducive to those kinds of games at times, and the way to win is just to keep converting on the offensive end and K-State quickly realized that’s how it was going to be in Austin.

Sometimes it isn’t that your defense is lacking or doing things wrong. Sometimes a team has to recognize that the other team is pretty freaking good too and that they are going to make plays and do things that make life tough on you, too.