Longhorns aim to curtail Kansas St.’s rising status
MANHATTAN, Kan. — No one outside of Kansas State seemed to think much of the Wildcats heading into this season.
Big 12 coaches voted Kansas State to finish last. A panel of 13 media members polled by The Athletic followed suit. Folks just didn’t seem inclined to believe a program that had lost 63 percent of its games over the past three seasons could survive in the Big 12’s shark-infested waters, even with first-year head coach Jerome Tang and former first team All-SEC transfer Keyontae Johnson injecting some hope.
How wrong they all were.
With a month remaining in the regular season, Kansas State (18-4, 6-3) is tied for second in the Big 12, ranked seventh in the Associated Press Top 25 and 18th in the NCAA NET rankings. Tang looks like the national coach of the year. Johnson’s leading the team in scoring (18.2) and rebounding (7.9) two years removed from a horrifying mid-game collapse stemming from acute myocarditis during his junior season at Florida. And super senior guard Markquis Nowell (17.1 points, 8.0 assists, 2.3 steals) is making a case to be named the program’s first Big 12 player of the year since Michael Beasley in 2008.
Now 22 games deep into their schedule, the Wildcats aren’t sneaking up on anyone these days.
No. 10 Texas (18-4, 7-2) certainly isn’t sleeping on Tang’s fearless outfit, not after the Wildcats blew the roof off the dazzling new Moody Center during a record-setting 116-103 win over the Longhorns on Jan. 3. Nowell and Johnson combined for 64 points and 14 assists that night as Kansas State hit a staggering 60 percent of its total shots and 54 percent of its 3s.
But as the Longhorns prepare for Saturday’s fracas at deafening Bramlage Coliseum, they find themselves looking down at Kansas State and the league’s eight other teams.
Texas has surged into first place under interim head coach Rodney Terry, now 11-3 since taking over for the ousted Chris Beard in December. Terry’s crew is coming off a gutsy 76-71 win over No. 17 Baylor, Texas’ first win over the Bears since 2019.
That triumph was doubly notable for Texas because it followed a humbling 11-point loss to No. 4 Tennessee in Knoxville. In the aftermath, defensiveminded Terry was as critical of the team as he’s been since taking over, expressing concern over the Longhorns getting “outtoughed” and “out-physicaled” by another Final Four aspirant.
Texas responded by exceeding the physicality of Baylor, which entered that Monday night matchup leading the Big 12 in rebounding margin, offensive rebounding and second-chance scoring. The Bears shot just 37 percent from the field and finished plus-one on the glass, four below its season average.
“He challenged us on defense. He challenged us to be better,” fifth-year senior forward Timmy Allen said after the win over Baylor. “We’re a team that prides ourself on defense, being able the guard as a team and one-on-one. At Tennessee we didn’t do that. We’re not a team that’s used to getting outtoughed. That was something we dealt with a lot last year that’s been pretty quiet this year. And that’s how we kind of want to keep it.”
Kansas State has fared just fine in the toughness department for the majority of its Cinderella season.
Tang has his team play at a frantic pace — they average 69.4 possessions per 40 minutes, the second-fastest tempo in the Big 12 behind TCU (69.7) – but the Wildcats still defend with fervor, ranking 28th nationally in defensive efficiency and 14th in 3point defense.
Kansas State has proved somewhat more vulnerable of late though, sandwiching a convincing 6450 win over Florida in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge between defense-optional road losses to No. 12 Iowa State and No. 8 Kansas. The Wildcats allowed 170 points across the two defeats with a minus-10 rebounding margin.
“What good does it do to be negative? How much does it help our guys?” Tang told reporters following Tuesday’s 90-78 loss to the Jayhawks. “My job is to help get them ready, and me being ticked off, I’ll do that by myself when I’m watching film.”
Losing to Kansas never goes down easy in Manhattan, but Tang’s built up plenty of goodwill over his first year on the job. The former longtime Baylor assistant has been so impressive, in fact, that he’s on the short list of potential candidates for the Texas job.
When asked about being linked to Texas last month, Tang laughed. “I don’t need to comment on that one,” he said.
Terry, of course, will do everything in his power to have that interim tag removed at the end of this season. Knocking Kansas State and Tang down a few pegs Saturday afternoon on their home floor would help his case.
“It’s the Big 12, man,” Terry said. “It’s a monster every night.”
And with Tang resurrecting the Wildcats, there’s yet another monster for Texas to slay.