This coaching mantra has helped Jerome Tang lead Kansas State to unexpected heights
Jerome Tang did not expect this.
The Kansas State men’s basketball coach entered his first season with the Wildcats aiming at a winning record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. He thought those were attainable goals, even for a team that was replacing all but two scholarship players. But not even he envisioned things like a 15-1 start and a No. 11 ranking this quickly into his tenure.
Truth be told, he hoped the Wildcats could sneak into the Big Dance with something like 18 total wins.
“Never did we think we would be 15-1 right now,” Tang said. “But our approach is not as such that we say, ‘Hey, look at the whole season.’ We try not to look too far down the road. Looking back, the whole thing is surprising. But as you have seen over the past few games we have got some dudes and they are just making plays.”
“I shake my head quite a bit and smile and clap and say, ‘Thank you, Jesus.’”
How did K-State go from being picked last in the preseason Big 12 coaches poll to being a contender in the league championship race this quickly?
Having two of the best players in the country is a good place to start. Since Big 12 play began, point guard Markquis Nowell has led the conference in scoring (27.8 points per game), assists (10) and steals (3) while senior forward Keyontae Johnson has ranked fourth in both scoring (20.5) and rebounding (7.5).
Beating a team with two star players is not easy.
“It’s been great,” Nowell said. “Coach always talks about how it’s hard to come by wins so you have got to celebrate them. It’s been a long time coming. We put in a lot of work over the summer and each and every day.”
Still, something else other than hard work had to spark this team’s incredible play.
Tang thinks he knows what it is. It happened sometime in December after the Wildcats suffered their lone loss at Butler and didn’t look all that impressive in a narrow home victory over Wichita State.
At about that time, Tang decided to change his coaching mindset.
“I spent the first part of the season maybe focused too much on what our guys couldn’t do,” Tang said, “or maybe somebody else has someone who is better than us.”
He decided to show greater support to his players after listening to a church sermon that encouraged him to “shoot your arrow.”
The message he learned was simple. The K-State basketball roster was like a quiver of arrows, and the Wildcats already had enough arrows to win ... if Tang fully embraced them.
That is exactly what he decided to do, starting with Nowell.
“Markquis is my arrow,” Tang said. “I don’t need to look at everyone else’s arrow. He is my arrow. We had a meeting in my office and I apologized to him and I said, ‘You are my arrow. We are going to win this battle with you.’”
That led to a long conversation about how Tang wanted Nowell to see the game through his eyes and vice versa.
They decided to shoot their arrow together. Good results have followed.
“Since that time I haven’t allowed little things that really don’t matter to bother me,” Tang said, “and he hasn’t let my coaching or some of the things I say to him to bother him. We are just moving forward together. He loves K-State, he loves the game of basketball, he works so hard. I just have to take my hands off and let him be him.”
This story was originally published January 13, 2023 at 11:25 AM with the headline "This coaching mantra has helped Jerome Tang lead Kansas State to unexpected heights."