MANHATTAN — As the losses pile up, Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang continues preaching to his players that they are on the verge of a breakthrough.
His message was the same Wednesday night in Waco, Texas, after the Wildcats blew a double-digit second-half lead and fell to Baylor, 70-62, running their losing streak to six. Only this time he got some reinforcement from an old friend.
Baylor coach Scott Drew, his boss for 19 years before Tang took the K-State head coaching job, visited the Wildcat locker room and repeated the words of encouragement while referencing a similar experience they shared with the 2013-14 Bears team.
“He told the guys, just keep fighting, keep believing,” said Tang, whose Wildcats (7-12, 1-6 Big 12) return home Saturday to face West Virginia (13-5, 4-3) in a 5 p.m. game at Bramlage Coliseum. “He told them about the time we started the conference 2-8 and everybody had given up on us, and then we finished the conference 9-9, won three games in the Big 12 Tournament, and went to the (NCAA Tournament) Sweet 16.
“This thing can turn. You just have to believe and keep fighting.”
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Drew said he felt compelled to help Tang, whom he beat for the first time in four head-to-head battles.
“Because I know what he’s going through, and it’s never easy losing,” Drew said. “Not when you pour your heart and soul into a team.
“I’ve been through the wars with him. I think that’s one thing in the profession. The highs are really good, but the lows are tough. And I just wanted to make sure that their team knew that (there are) a lot of games left to be played, and they’ve got the best coach leading them.”
The Wildcats have indeed knocked on the door in their last three games, starting with a 61-57 loss against Texas Tech when they were shut out over the last 5:50, and then last Saturday when they fell at Kansas, 84-74, after cutting an early 16-point deficit to six in the second half. They led Baylor by 12 points early in the second half and were still within striking distance, only to go the last 3:25 without a field goal.
“They could have beat Tech, they could beat TCU,” Drew said. “They had a great comeback against Kansas, a two-possession game.
“Tonight, they controlled the game. So, it’s really just getting on a roll.”
Of course, getting on a roll after six straight losses is easier said than done. With the 2013-14 Baylor team, the turning point came with a hard-fought victory at Oklahoma State.
“The win gives you this extra gear, gas, to just keep going,” Tang said. “And that’s where we’re at. We’re right there that we’ve got to get that win.
“But we have to take it. Nobody’s going to give it to us. We’ve got to take it, and we will. We will.”
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on X (formerly Twitter) at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball gets words of encouragement from a rival coach
