Kansas State coach Jerome Tang: ‘We’re going to do just fine in the Big 12’

Kansas State men’s basketball coach Jerome Tang knows there is struggle ahead and he knows the struggle is real.

In men’s college basketball, the Big 12 is as real as it gets.

Kansas State has an 8-4 non-conference record. Eleven Big 12 teams have more wins than the Wildcats. All 16 conference teams have winning records. Accepting that big schools tend to fatten the record with cupcakes before conference play begins, still, Big 12 teams have racked up bunches of victories.

Two conference teams are undefeated and ranked in the top 3 of the AP Top 25 Poll. That's undefeated Arizona (ranked No. 1) and undefeated Iowa State (ranked No. 3). Four more conference teams are ranked -- Houston (8), BYU (10), Texas Tech (15), and Kansas (17). ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has 10 Big 12 teams in his latest Bracketology, which predicts the 68-team NCAA Tournament.

K-State is not on Lunardi’s list.

Jerome Tang optimistic about Wildcats’ chances

For the Wildcats, who suffered a four-game losing streak not that long ago, they have felt the struggle. But coach Jerome Tang, the Wildcats’ coach since 2022-23, doesn’t see doom and gloom from playing in the Big 12.

Tang spoke with optimism after the Wildcats’ 106-76 win over South Dakota on Saturday afternoon at Bramlage Coliseum. He was asked about his team trending in the right direction before Big 12 play starts.

The Wildcats’ Big 12 opener is Jan. 3 against visiting BYU. Then, K-State hits the road for an Arizona trip. Arizona is 11-0 and ranked No. 1. Arizona State is 9-4. Winning in the desert is never easy.

But first, one more non-conference game vs. Louisiana-Monroe on Dec. 28.

“Well, winning helps,” Tang said in a recent news conference about where his team stands. “Sharing the ball.

"We’re playing better, the way we want to play, for longer periods of time. That’s it. I got a great belief in these guys and that doesn’t mean we’re going to win every game, but we’re going to do just fine in the Big 12.”

Of course, that’s the headline: “We’re going to do just fine in the Big 12.”

For hopeful K-State fans, that is a message that is well received. Fans can only hope it’s an accurate one.

Preseason predictions for Big 12

Everyone in the Big 12 — and all college basketball fans — knows how good the Big 12 is. In a preseason poll, K-State was picked to finish ninth in the conference. Houston was a near-unanimous pick to win the conference title, followed by BYU, Texas Tech, Arizona and Texas Tech.

When K-State rival Kansas is picked to finish only sixth in the Big 12, you have one loaded conference.

“And what we’ve done up until this point, it’s not all on them,” Tang said about his players. “It’s some of that’s on us as a staff, too.

“And some of it is just the process, right? The process of having to go through some things to get here.

“So, I’m thankful that we have a lot of season ahead of us and we’ve got guys that want to get better every day and we got a staff that has done a great job of connecting with their hearts and so I know that the improvement is going to continue.”

Strengths and weaknesses

K-State has the nation’s second-leading scorer in P.J. Haggerty, who averages 22.8 points per game, while shooting .519 from the field. He also shoots .400 from distance — both figures above average.

Kansas State guard P.J. Haggerty is second in the nation in scoring at 22.8 points per game. | Scott Sewell-Imagn Images

But K-State ranks 270th in the nation in defense, out of 365 teams. Opponents score an average of 77.1 points per game.

Tang knows the Wildcats’ defense has to tighten up for Big 12 success.

“We made progress [on defense],” Tang said. “It may not always show up there, but you know sometimes you see the score and you’re like, why [did] we give up so many points?

“And I’m sure once I go back and I look at it, we’re probably going to be like a 1.0-point per possession ’til probably the last minute or so.

“And then I’ll be like, ‘All right, that wasn’t too bad.’ We’re not far off where we want to be, 0.95 [points per possession] so some little different things.

“I think the communication is getting better, the the switching is getting better, the being in the right spot in ball screen coverages are getting better.

“We’ve learned … what type of coverage [our players] they’re better in, you know, especially our forwards. So yeah, we’re coming along.”

More from Kansas State On SI

Stay up to date with the Wildcats by bookmarking Kansas State On SI.