Rapid Recap: Kansas State closes out another opponent with a lob
EXPECT TO WIN
It didn’t take long after the overtime win and Kansas State court storm for Jerome Tang to grab the mic and say some words. He was appreciative of the fans but also reminded them that it was the only court storming that would be given to them.
For the remainder, he wants the K-State mindset to be to “expect to win,” for not only his team, but the fan base and all of Manhattan as well.
Tang loves the crowd and the support and he’s passionate about it. They have embodied everything he imagined Kansas State being, except for one thing: the ‘F-KU’ chant. He wants it to be more respectful, and he changed that culture during the football season by insisting on a different chant of K-S-U.
However, the chant was bound to make a return for the Sunflower Showdown.
Tang let the fans know after the game that he doesn’t like it and wants it to be eliminated. K-State assistant Jareem Dowling was even seen a couple times during timeouts motioning to the crowd to cut the chant. And it was actually effective.
The Kansas State staff continues to make a difference on the culture, and although the chant reigned down on Bramlage Coliseum Tuesday night, a lot of progress has been made. It is non-existent when Kansas isn’t the opponent and it was much lesser and faded fast versus the Jayhawks.
His mission is to have love as the motive and not as much hatred. He even recognized, understands and agrees that there should be some rivalry to it and dislike for each other. But if they operate with joy and do it for love of one another, then the home atmosphere can be that raucous and difficult for every opponent.
Texas Tech developed that reputation last year. Of course, they got up for Texas because of the Chris Beard factor and that’s their rival, but every player that left Lubbock the last few seasons called it a tougher environment than Allen Field House.
Even K-State forward Ismael Massoud mentioned that after playing the Red Raiders in United Supermarkets Arena.
ALLEY-OOP FOR THE WIN
I know we tend to be caught up in special moments from Kansas State, but I’m still pretty shocked with how Keyontae Johnson converted the alley-oop dunk in Jalen Wilson’s face, and also how perfect the feed was from Markquis Nowell.
That was a called play, believe it or not. There were two options depending how Wilson defended it, but both were going to the Florida transfer.
Nowell was to either feed Johnson on the wing, or do exactly what happened. Johnson said after the game that he knew that Wilson was going to play really tight and he let his point guard know, so he spun off of him to give room to finish the lob on a Jayhawk’s head.
CATALYST TO HIRING TANG
Gene Taylor probably had Jerome Tang on his mind as the right K-State hire all along (Tang did in fact meet with Taylor right after the Big 12 tournament last year in Kansas City), but we still learned a really cool anecdote after the game that paints a slightly different picture.
Nowell has had his eye on Tang ever since last season.
The Kansas State point guard respected when they played each other and started growing fond of the Baylor assistant and how he coaches. Nowell decided to compose a text message to the K-State athletic director to give his opinion at one point during the coaching search.
He said he did his research and mentioned some names to Taylor. One was Jerome Tang.
The response was a simple ‘👍’ reaction from the K-State Athletics Director, and a few days later, that became a reality. Tang said it was special to find out that Nowell did that. The head coach reminded the media that Nowell is his arrow and where this team goes is dictated by him.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Jerome Tang wants to see a full Bramlage Coliseum every home game. He expressed in the past that he recognized that the new Kansas State staff and roster to earn that kind of turnout. I think he already has with an incredible 5-1 start to Big 12 play and a massive win in his first ever meeting with Kansas as the Wildcats’ head coach.
“I’m so proud of our guys, and secondly, our fans were incredible, right? I mean, they say home court advantage gives you a plus 10, it might have been plus 20 tonight. It was incredible. One of the things I said leading up to this is that kind of energy that they brought tonight, I want them to bring that because they love us and not because of the opponent that we’re playing. On Saturday, we’ll play Texas Tech, if they love us, we’re gonna get that same energy, right, not because of the opponent that we’re playing against and that was my message.”
JEROME TANG
