Kansas State Men’s Basketball Coach Says His Team Didn’t Give a  ‘Great Enough Effort’ in Losing to UCF

Kansas State coach Jerome Tang’s men’s basketball team is teetering on the edge of extinction in the troublesome Big 12. The Wildcats are 0-4 (9-8 overall) in what might be the best basketball conference in the country.

Their first two conference losses were somewhat understandable — to No. 10 BYU and at No. 1 Arizona. But the last two losses were puzzling — at Arizona State, and at home Wednesday night to UCF. They are games a team with any postseason aspirations needs to win.

The Wildcats’ next game is no bargain, either. It’s at Oklahoma State on Saturday. The Cowboys are 13-4, 1-3 in the Big 12. The game is at 9 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network.

And Tang is dealing with what he said wasn’t a great enough effort in the Wildcats’ 82-73 loss to UCF

“We knew exactly what they was running,” Tang said in a news conference. “We just didn’t give a great enough effort. We talked all week long about competing, right?

“Like competing for everything, every inch of the floor, every possession, every screen, every pass.

“I'm pretty sure I can go back and see that we weren’t as competitive as we needed to be fighting over those screens … I knew they was running 22 [Chris Johnson] to the corner for the three, right?

“We knew the play exactly what was going on … They cut harder than we did. That can’t happen in those situations.”

Wildcats’ mood

Tang was asked about the mood of his team.

“I don’t know,” Tang said. “I hope they’re [hissed] off. When we went through it earlier in the year. They came in and they were like, ‘OK, coach, tell us what we need to do.’

“You know, you could tell they were very coachable at that time. They didn’t think they had the answers.

“And hopefully with these four losses, they’re going to come back in and they say, ‘OK, coach, we don’t have the answers. You got to help us.’ Because we’re giving them what they need.”

Turning help into performance

Being coached up and getting answers can be helpful, but only to a point. Players have to take the lessons learned onto the court and perform.

And for the Wildcats, the margin for error is slim … and maybe none.

UCF guard Themus Fulks (1) drives against Kansas State forward Khamari McGriff (21) during the first half at Bramlage Coliseum. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

“They just they have to go out and they have to execute it,” Tang said. “And some point in time, it falls on their shoulders to do it.

“We don’t browbeat our guys. We love them up. They know they’re loved. Now, we got to be better at the business of basketball. We have to do basketball better.

“And that’s the challenge. That’s what they signed up for. All of them want to play after college in some shape or form.

“If you want to do that, you have to keep getting better every day. And it doesn’t matter if you’re playing 30 minutes right now or you’re not playing at all.

“Every day you got to come to practice and get better, right? Because there’s something you want to do later on.

“There’s something that we want to accomplish, right? We got to keep getting better. And so that’s the mindset I believe our guys are going to have.

“And we start [preparing for] Oklahoma State tonight, right? Like how you rehab, how you eat, how you sleep. Tomorrow morning when we stretch, get a lift, whatever it is, you know, it starts right away.

“And whether you win or lose, it has to start right away because, it can turn quickly.”

Big 12 difficulties

Tang has spoken about the quality of Big 12 teams. He addressed the conference again, and where his team stands, after the UCF loss.

“You can go from losing four to winning six, right?” Tang said. “And some teams that are 3-1 right now can be 3-7. And teams that are 0-4 right now can end up being 5-4.

Kansas State coach Jerome Tang reacts during the first half against UCF at Bramlage Coliseum. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

“I told y’all before the Big 12 [games started], I said, ‘You know, you’re looking at our first [six] games, we could play well and be 1-5 or we can play well and be 5-1.’

“That’s just the league that we’re in, right? And how it is. So, we got to keep getting better and our staff is excited. We got a bunch of resilient dudes on our staff that are going to keep grinding and I believe we have that in our players.”

Rally and resiliency

K-State fell behind against UCF and trailed by 14 at the half. The Wildcats rallied and made the game close and competitive. K-State cut the UCF lead to 57-56 with 11:18 to play, but the Wildcats couldn’t take the lead.

“We’ve got a resilient group,” Tang said. “I’ve never questioned that about them, right?

“Sometimes our problems is they’re overconfidence of what they can do on the offensive end rather than locking in. So we got a resilient group, but we have this saying that anybody can come back.

“Very few teams come back and win. And that’s what we got to get … Hopefully don’t get in the hole, but we get in a hole, you come back and win, right?

“Make that next play. Get that next stop. And that’s what we got to get to.

“This calling of coaching is not for the faint of heart, especially in this league.”

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