After 6th straight loss, K-State Wildcats received a pep talk ... from their opponent
Kansas State basketball players listened to an uplifting speech inside their locker room after a frustrating 70-62 loss against the Baylor Bears on Wednesday at Foster Pavilion.
But it didn’t come from Jerome Tang.
Instead, they sat quietly as Baylor coach Scott Drew walked in and shared words of encouragement.
It’s not often that a winning coach is invited inside the losing locker room after a hard-fought game. But Tang was happy to open the door for Drew, because he spent 19 years working for him as a Baylor assistant before he was hired at K-State. And, well, the Wildcats have lost six games in a row. Maybe a guest speaker could help this group.
“I know what he’s going through,” Drew said of Tang. “It’s never easy losing. Not when you pour your heart and soul into a team. I’ve been through the wars with him. One thing about this profession is that the highs are really good, but the lows are tough. I just wanted to make sure that their team knew that there are a lot of games left to be played and they have got the best coach leading them.”
Tang nodded his head while Drew addressed his team.
Drew shared a story with the Wildcats about the time one of his Baylor teams began conference play 1-6 and rallied to finish with a 9-9 league record. Not only that, the Bears reached the championship game of the Big 12 Tournament and then pulled off a pair of wins in March Madness.
It was the 2013-14 season and many left that team for dead. But Drew and Tang guided the Bears all the way to the Sweet 16.
That felt like a good story to share with a K-State team that is woefully under performing at 7-11 overall and 1-6 in the Big 12.
“Coach Drew came in the locker room and told the guys to just keep fighting and keep believing,” Tang said. “This thing can turn. You just have to keep fighting.”
Drew has been known to share positive messages with opposing teams before.
He has urged the Kansas Jayhawks to do special things in the Big Dance in prior seasons. And he is always looking to help others when he can.
But he also sees untapped potential in this K-State roster. Drew thinks the Wildcats are improving. It might not take much for them to start winning.
K-State led Baylor 40-28 early in the second half on Wednesday. The Wildcats possessed a lead for nearly 29 minutes of game action. This was not an easy win for Baylor, which got 30 points from freshman guard VJ Edgecombe.
“Look at the last couple games,” Drew said. “They were like this one, all one or two possession games. They could have beaten Texas Tech and they could have beaten TCU. They had a great comeback against Kansas. They controlled the game tonight. For them, it’s really just about getting on a roll.”
He went on to say that K-State is struggling with “basketball algebra.” Tang welcomed in all but three new players during the offseason. Drew thinks it is simply taking the Wildcats longer than other teams to figure out how their roster pieces go together.
“It just takes time to figure it out,” Drew said. “Sometimes it clicks sooner. Sometimes it doesn’t. I know they have got some really good options and I think their team is growing.”
Tang seemed relieved to hear those words from his mentor.
They were enough to make him think back to the turning point in that Baylor season from more than a decade ago. The Bears won a back-and-forth game at Oklahoma State to improve to 2-6 in conference play, and that gave them a jolt of confidence. They won eight of their final 11 league games, including the regular-season finale at K-State.
After they got their swagger back, they did something special in March.
Hard as it may be to believe at the moment, Tang thinks this K-State team is close to a similar breakthrough. Drew reminded him of that.
“The only way you can get on a winning streak is to go out and win one,” Tang said. “When you get that one you can just see the life and the spirit that comes with it. ... We need to get on a little roll and start getting some chemistry going. But it’s that win that gives you an extra gear.
“That’s where we’re at. We’re right there close to that. We have got to get that win. But we have to go take it. Nobody is going to give it to us. We have to take it, and we will.”
This story was originally published January 23, 2025 at 6:30 AM with the headline "After 6th straight loss, K-State Wildcats received a pep talk ... from their opponent."