How mid-season transfer Tyreek Smith is helping K-State basketball behind the scenes
Shortly after Kansas State won its most lopsided conference game of the season — an 85-57 beatdown against Oklahoma State in late January — men’s basketball coach Jerome Tang unexpectedly gave one of his players a shout-out.
In his mind, Tyreek Smith deserved much credit for helping the Wildcats win by that margin.
That came as a surprise, considering the 6-foot-8 forward didn’t play in the game. But Tang clearly thought highly of Smith and everything he had done behind the scenes to help the Wildcats as a mid-season transfer.
So he showed him some love.
“The addition of Tyreek Smith being here and practicing with us, giving us another athletic, strong body,” Tang said back then, “he just raised the level of energy to another level. I thought (the day before the OSU game) might have been our most fun practice, because of how competitive it was. The guys enjoyed the competitiveness, and you could see it.”
Fast-forward a month, and Tang remains complimentary of Smith.
“It’s been great having another live body,” Tang said. “He’s strong and he is a really good rebounder, defender. He gets to play as the best forward on the other team with our scout team. And he’s fresh. It’s a live body flying around there.
“He’s a grown man and he just conducts his business in a way that you really appreciate. His maturity has been good for us.”
K-State began winning at about the time that Smith arrived on campus as a mid-season transfer from Memphis.
The Wildcats started Big 12 play 1-6. But they have won six of their past eight games with Smith helping out behind the scenes.
K-State recruited Smith at an unusual time out of the transfer portal. As a mid-season transfer, he is not eligible to play for the Wildcats this season. But he can practice and travel with the team. He has requested a waiver from the NCAA to play a full year with K-State during the 2025-26 season.
A scholarship was free for K-State after Achor Achor decided to leave the team. Tang used it on Smith, even though he could only help in practice this season.
Tang has known Smith for many years, going back to when he evaluated him as a high school recruit coming out of Cedar Hill, Texas. He thought about pursuing him as a transfer in the past, but things never aligned for a partnership ... until now.
So far, Smith has made an impact. His physicality has helped the Wildcats prepare for Big 12 opponents.
But he also offers K-State help in the long term. The Wildcats will lose senior forwards David N’Guessan and Coleman Hawkins at the end of this season.
Smith is in line to replace them.
K-State coaches are already grooming him for the future. But Smith is helping the Wildcats now.
This story was originally published February 21, 2025 at 12:35 PM with the headline "How mid-season transfer Tyreek Smith is helping K-State basketball behind the scenes."