Rapid Recap: Kansas State focusing on correcting certain areas

TANG’S MEMORIES OF HINKLE

Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang struck me as a historian of the game because of his encyclopedia of knowledge connected to the game of basketball that he has showcased in his short time on the job in Manhattan.

Because of that, I asked him about the opportunity to play Butler in Hinkle Fieldhouse and if it held any increased meaning to him because of the significance that it holds. Of course, and because I forgot about it, Tang immediately pointed out that they played a couple games there during Baylor’s national championship run.

They made a bubble in Indianapolis for the NCAA Tournament due to the pandemic and the Bears played a couple games at the iconic venue. Tang also mentioned how he’s seen the movie “Hoosiers” and all the mystique associated with the Bulldogs’ home court.

In addition to that, the now K-State head coach also pointed out his respect for head coach Thad Matta and how he has looked up to him as a coach and has loved getting to know him through Scott Drew. They played Ohio State when they had Jared Sullinger in Columbus.

Matta was hired once again by the Bulldogs in the offseason. Kansas State takes on Butler Wednesday, and they do happen to be the only program in the state of Indiana (which is full of strong basketball schools) to reach consecutive national championship games.

AREAS THAT KANSAS STATE NEEDS TO CORRECT

K-State won the Cayman Islands Classic by defeating Rhode Island, Nevada and LSU in consecutive fashion. Although the win over the Rams was a comfortable one, it took overtime to defeat the Wolf Pack and a near last-second shot to knock off the Tigers from the SEC in the tournament final.

I asked Tang if there were any areas that he was eager to attack in order to fix or improve upon them after watching his team play in three straight days away from home. To his delight, he answered it with three particular facets that they needed to address.

The first was an obvious one. They continue to be bitten by the turnover bug.

Their turnover rate has been too high and that has been a consistent them for Kansas State this season. Even more than that, I was encouraged and excited to hear him specify that it was the turnover rate that was bugging him instead of the antiquated raw number that some still incorrectly focus on when looking at the stat sheet.

Secondly, K-State gave away too many possessions on the offensive end but they also didn’t create enough extra ones. Their offensive rebounding rate wasn’t as high as the Kansas State head coach would like to see. Tang noted that they have to retrieve more of their own misses.

And finally, and he admitted that some of it rests on his own shoulders, but he wants K-State to be a bit more sharp when inbounding the ball. Too many times they seemed confused or struggled to pass the ball from underneath the basket.

BULLDOG BALANCE

When asked about the challenge of Butler on the court, Tang didn’t just focus on Matta’s experience and coaching that has spanned decades. It was also about the way that they have played thus far this season.

The Bulldogs hold a nice win over BYU and have a competitive loss to Penn State despite being dispatched convincingly by both NC State and Tennessee. They played in a tournament over the holidays as well and were actually away from home more recently than Kansas State.

However, what worries Tang is the balance they have throughout their roster. Multiple guys can hurt you on the offensive end. They really spread out the scoring and give multiple issues for a defense and can stress a team on that end of the floor in several ways.

A MISMATCH FOR K-STATE

Does anyone recall when K-State big David N’Guessan was able to take his guy off the bounce a few different times in the Cayman Islands for an easy drive and score. I asked him about those chances after he was peppered with questions about his transition to being a ‘5’ at Kansas State.

For the record, he rarely, if ever, played the ‘5’ at Virginia Tech. But his move to Manhattan has been associated with that change in position and he has embraced it with open arms. N’Guessan revealed that he is willing to do whatever it takes to win.

That’s a motto we hear often from this year’s K-State roster that has been constructed by Tang and his assistant coaches.

Sometimes N’Guessan will be the one at a disadvantage, and he is aware of that. He ran into that a few times overseas as well. He is giving up a lot of weight in some instances. However, he’ll be more athletic and quicker than many of the guys guarding him too and they can use that when needing a bucket on offense.