Rapid Recap: Jerome Tang and Kansas State ready for Texas Tech

Kansas State recruiting

Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang was asked about if they put any more thought into the open scholarship spot or had narrowed down the wish list for it. His answer was pretty blunt that they weren’t just going to fill it with anyone. If nobody fits it, they’ll leave it be and attack it after the season.

Obviously, it is open because Nae’Qwan Tomlin was dismissed from K-State.

They are very excited for David Castillo to make the Team USA team once again. They won the two gold medals the two year he played, and he was the team’s starting point guard. He was unable to play last year because of injury and didn’t medal at all.

That tells Tang everything he needs to know about Castillo as a winner.

But they’re not as focused on the recruiting trail now as they typically are, just because they really like to pour into their own team during the season and make a run at the NCAA Tournament. They also know their targets have seasons of their own.

Less recruiting takes place because of it, other than catching up from time to time. The K-State head coach said the best recruiting tool at this time of the year is to just win as much as possible.

That #5 and #3 connection pic.twitter.com/kYf5gjkMSJ

— K-State Men's Basketball (@KStateMBB) January 10, 2024

Texas Tech thoughts

Just like Kansas State and Baylor, Texas Tech is 2-0 to start league play after wins over Texas and Oklahoma State. So, the undefeated teams in the conference after just a week are coached by Scott Drew and two of his former assistants.

Yes, the Red Raiders are coached by former North Texas head coach Grant McCasland. But don’t mistake that for the style of ball he ran in Denton because it is totally different in Lubbock. They’re operating much, much faster than they did with the Mean Green.

Tang acknowledged that and explained that it is almost a necessity to do so in order to survive in the Big 12 and have success. Defenses in the league are way too good and suffocating to take the air out of the ball and just hope to grind out a win every night.

Not only that, Pop Isaacs has turned into an elite weapon and the K-State head coach said that was mainly because of his love for the game of basketball. They’re very aware of all the things he can do on the court.

New scouting report

Where can Dorian Finister continue to improve and develop for Kansas State? I have opined and mentioned that it’s about getting more experience and developing on the offensive end in terms of knowing when to shoot and what decisions to make and when.

Coach Tang had a little bit of a different take on it, but it another angle that makes a lot of sense. Moving forward, Finister is on the scouting report and teams are going to take away what he wants to do on the court and capitalize on weaknesses that they see on film.

How does he counter that and still make an impact? Those are the next questions.

Jerome Tang on how cool it is to still see Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson actively engage with their guys on a regular basis and constantly follow Kansas State basketball to monitor how they are doing..

"It shows that they didn't just rent this place. They bought it."

— Derek Young (@DerekYoungKSO) January 11, 2024

Hard work at K-State

One of the best players on the K-State roster the past few weeks has been David N’Guessan. He might as well be in the same company as Cam Carter, Tylor Perry and Arthur Kaluma at this point. He’s been that good, especially on the defensive end, but his offensive game has rounded into form.

It’s all about the hard work paying off, according to the Kansas State coaching staff. You never know when the relentless work ethic, motor and preparation will yield great results, but the time has come for N’Guessan. He’s producing and playing at a high level, said Tang.

It’s that way for Will McNair, too, who has torn down all the barriers and really opened himself up to his teammates and allowed everyone in the basketball family to pour into him. He’s now just doing what he does best on the court.

Now the Wildcats’ basketball boss is hoping the same is true of his freshmen.

It can be easy to just shut it down and stop working when you work hard but don’t get instant satisfaction. The hard thing is to continue working until the positive results do present themselves. They’re still figuring out how that works.

Buying, not renting

Two guys absolutely taking of like a rocket ship at this point are Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson. The K-State stars from a year ago are tearing up the G-League and are candidates to play in the ‘Next Up’ game during NBA All-Star Weekend.

Heck, Nowell is the leading vote-getter currently and Johnson is No. 4. Tang lauded the Kansas State fan base and everyone that has supported them by voting and encouraged those to continue to do so in order to give those two that opportunity.

Tang also pointed out that both have remained engaged with K-State basketball and the guys on the team and regularly connect and interact with them. Nowell and Johnson are always monitoring how the Wildcats are doing since leaving Manhattan.

When asked how cool that was, Jerome Tang pointed out that it was all because of the love that they have for Kansas State University. They didn’t rent their opportunity and just bide their team but they bought it, embraced it and now cherish it. K-State means something to them.