Five moments that launched Kansas State’s unlikely mid-season basketball turnaround
It is understandably difficult for some to wrap their minds around the basketball winning streak that Kansas State is currently riding.
Not long ago, this team lost games against Liberty and Wichita State (by 19). Now the Wildcats have won games against No. 10 Iowa State (by 19), No. 13 Arizona and No. 20 Kansas.
K-State has surged up the Big 12 standings like a rocket ship. This team is hotter than the surface of the sun.
Many left the Wildcats for dead when they got off to a dismal 7-11 start to the 2024-25 season. But now they are 13-11 and in the running for an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament.
In fact, coach Jerome Tang’s roster is playing so well that college basketball statistician Bart Torvik rates the Wildcats as the No. 1 team in all of college basketball since Jan. 24, a day before their winning streak began. They were No. 95 in his expert model before that date.
Calling such a turnaround impressive would be an understatement.
Question is: What happened? Why did the Wildcats play so poorly at the beginning of the season? And how did they improve this much in such a short period of time?
A look back at these five moments may provide some answers:
1. Dug McDaniel went all-in for his team
Nobody on the K-State basketball roster epitomizes this mid-season turnaround better than junior point guard Dug McDaniel.
The Michigan transfer looked like a bust during nonconference games. Tang didn’t trust him enough to insert him into the starting lineup. And there were some games when it looked like Tang didn’t have any faith in him, period.
To that end, McDaniel played five scoreless minutes in a disastrous loss to Wichita State. He was glued to the bench during a game against Mississippi Valley State.
Many K-State fans wondered why McDaniel was the first transfer that Tang signed last spring.
But McDaniel’s talents began to shine through when he was named a starter at the start of Big 12 play. Tang was reluctant to give McDaniel that promotion, because he didn’t think he deserved it. But after praying on the topic he felt like God was telling him to make a lineup change. So into the starting five McDaniel went.
His commitment to the team has been night and day since. McDaniel has become a more assertive scorer, as he has averaged 15.1 points over the past six games, and that has opened up the offense for his teammates. Over the past six games, McDaniel is also averaging 6.6 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.1 steals.
But none of those stats fully encapsulate the momentum boosts he has given K-State by banking home so many acrobatic layups.
In conclusion: McDaniel has gone from a liability to one of the best point guards in the Big 12.
2. Baylor coach Scott Drew gave the Wildcats a pep talk
K-State fans expressed embarrassment when word got out that Baylor coach Scott Drew entered the visiting locker room in Waco and shared words of encouragement with the Wildcats immediately after a 70-62 loss at Foster Pavilion last month.
The Wildcats had lost nine of 10 games, and an opposing coach giving a pep talk to the team seemed like rock bottom.
“I just wanted to make sure that their team knew that there are a lot of games left to be played,” Drew said at the time, “and they have got the best coach leading them.”
You can’t argue with the results. K-State has gone 6-0 since then.
So what exactly did Drew tell the Wildcats? Nothing that Tang hadn’t already told them.
Many years ago, Drew and Tang (then an assistant coach on Drew’s staff at Baylor) coached the Bears to the Sweet 16 after a 1-6 start in conference play during the 2013-14 season. Many left them for dead, but they turned things around with an unlikely winning streak.
Tang talked about that same turnaround after K-State got bulldozed at Wichita State and the Wildcats kept on losing. Maybe the story had more meaning when it came from a different voice.
3. Coleman Hawkins began focusing on the right things
No newcomer faced a more difficult transition in Manhattan than Coleman Hawkins.
Many expected an immediate impact from him because he was earning $2 million in NIL money, and fans were hard on him when he didn’t deliver in nonconference games. He complained when fans booed him, he complained when a stranger messaged him on Instagram and told him to break his leg, and he has mentioned more than a few times that he thinks the rims are too tight at Bramlage Coliseum.
But none of his comments have induced eye-rolls lately. The senior forward has been playing at a high level, and it seems like he is also starting to have fun in a K-State uniform.
After a recent win over Kansas, he showed up to the postgame news conference in sunglasses and bragged about his dominant record against KU forward Hunter Dickinson.
Things began to change for Hawkins after he scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds in an important win at Iowa State. He played his best in a hostile environment, and fans appreciated his ability to be a villain for KSU as a road team.
He is making 3-pointers, sending out assists and grabbing important rebounds. His versatility has made him one of the most valuable players on the roster.
For that reason, he has played 213 minutes (of a possible 240) during K-State’s winning streak. He leads the team in minutes over that time.
4. The 3-point line has been incredibly kind to K-State
Sometimes, basketball can be simple. Teams that make 3-pointers tend to win. Teams that miss 3-pointers tend to lose.
Well, the Wildcats have benefited on both sides of the 3-point line lately.
They made an incredible 49 of 113 (44%) shots from beyond the arc during the first five games of their winning streak. During that same stretch, their opponents went 36 of 114 (31%).
Max Jones, Hawkins and McDaniel have joined Brendan Hausen as capable shooters.
K-State finally cooled off against Arizona, hitting just 1 of 19 shots from beyond the arc. But their opponent was even colder, as Arizona went 2 of 22.
Shooting variance has played an important role during the Wildcats’ winning streak.
5. Mobi Ikegwuruka entered the rotation
The junior-college transfer is the definition of an “energy guy.”
Any time Mobi Ikegwuruka is on the floor, K-State fans can expect maximum effort, rebounds, steals and the occasional bucket.
It’s too bad he didn’t play during the Bruce Weber era. He would have dominated the play-hard chart.
Ikegwuruka was an afterthought early on this season, but he has logged at least seven minutes in all six of K-State’s recent wins. He has averaged 4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals during that time.
His best moment came when he intercepted an inbounds pass against Arizona and took it the other way for a dunk. K-State would not have won that game without him. The few minutes he plays have become valuable.
This story was originally published February 14, 2025 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Five moments that launched Kansas State’s unlikely mid-season basketball turnaround."