These plays show why K-State’s Jerome Tang is in running for Big 12 Coach of the Year
Long before he coached his first game at Kansas State, Jerome Tang was well known for his ability to assemble basketball talent.
Tang helped Scott Drew recruit 11 NBA Draft picks while he worked as an assistant at Baylor. Then he rebuilt the K-State roster from scratch in a single offseason, impressively managing to land a trio of impact transfers in Keyontae Johnson, Nae’Qwan Tomlin and Desi Sills to go along with returners Markquis Nowell and Ismael Massoud.
No one could deny that the Wildcats were loaded with athleticism, length and skill, even though they were picked to finish last in the Big 12 coaches poll.
But there were questions about how quickly Tang could mold that talent into a functional unit. And no one knew for sure how good or bad he would turn out to be as the head man, tasked with making the final call on in-game coaching decisions on his own.
Turns out, he is pretty good at that, too.
Tang guided No. 13 K-State to a thrilling 83-82 overtime victory against No. 2 Kansas on Tuesday in which he arguably out-witted KU coach Bill Self with a string of profitable coaching decisions.
“He’s great,” Self said of Tang. “It was a great hire. I think he’s represented our league and obviously Kansas State as well as you possibly can. He and (Iowa State coach) T.J. (Otzelberger) are the two leading candidates for Coach of the Year in our league and National Coach of the Year. Nobody’s done a better job assembling talent in a short amount of time and getting players together that I’ve seen.”
Will Tang win Big 12 Coach of the Year honors in March? The answer depends on how the Wildcats finish out the season compared to the rest of the conference. For now, though, he is most definitely one of the favorites.
Surprisingly, his abilities as an in-game coach have helped him reach this point. Did you know that K-State is 4-0 in overtime games this season? Did you realize that K-State is 8-0 in games decided by single digits?
That kind of success doesn’t happen by chance. With that in mind, let’s look back at some of the best coaching moves that Tang has made in recent games.
Defense wins championships
First, let’s focus on three key defensive possessions that helped K-State defeat Baylor 97-95 in overtime and then hold off KU in overtime. The opposing team had an opportunity to take the lead with less than a minute remaining on the clock on all three plays and yet the Wildcats didn’t allow as much as a shot attempt on any of them.
The first of those plays came against Baylor with the Bears trailing 96-95 in the final seconds. Baylor wanted to create a defensive mismatch that guard Adam Flagler could take advantage of, but Tang’s defensive formation made that difficult.
He asked Keyontae Johnson to defend the post, which left Flagler against Cam Carter or the taller Ismael Massoud. After several seconds of weighing his options, the Baylor guard decided to take his chances against Massoud. But Carter never switched off him and Flagler ended up dribbling into a double team, which led to a turnover on the sideline.
K-State went on to win.
A similar result occurred when K-State stopped KU from scoring at the end of overtime on Tuesday.
On that play, KU point guard Dajuan Harris was unable to break free from Carter as he drive within the arc and ended up dribbling his way into a triple team, as he was surrounded by Nowell, Massoud and Carter.
Backup big man Zach Clemence was unable to properly set a screen for Harris at the top of key, which allowed Carter to stick with him the whole way.
The play unfolds as if KU was hoping to get Harris an open look at the basket with an option to pass to Jalen Wilson against a smaller defender inside. But none of that was possible with three K-State defenders hounding him in the corner.
Another turnover. Another K-State victory.
The Wildcats also forced the Jayhawks into a turnover when they had a shot to win the game near the end of regulation.
On that play, Tang had Johnson defend Harris while Tomlin guarded KU big man Zuby Ejiofor at the top of the key.
Johnson had a size advantage over Harris and Tomlin had a speed advantage over Ejiofor. The result was a steal before KU could start running its set play that nearly led to a game-winning layup from Johnson on the other end.
It’s rare for coaches to have that much success against Self coming on set plays coming out of timeouts. Tang said the Wildcats held their own defensively by refusing to let the Jayhawks get into the paint.
Making plays in the clutch
But Tang’s smart coaching decisions have also been apparent on offense, as K-State has won each of its past two home games on lob dunks from Nowell to Johnson.
The first one came against Oklahoma State on a bit of a broken play, with Nowell running low on options as the shot clock ticked down. But Johnson was waiting for the dunk the whole time and he delivered one of the best K-State highlights in recent memory by throwing down a one-handed slam.
That play worked so well that Tang gave them the option to run it again in crunch time against Kansas.
“It’s what we were looking for,” Tang said. “I didn’t necessarily think he was going to catch it and dunk it, but we wanted to isolate him on the side of the floor. We knew that they would be on top of him.”
Lob Dunk Part 2 worked just as well as Part 1, but it came with higher stakes this time and Johnson finished off the slam with Wilson’s outstretched arms in his face.
K-State called the play. Kansas couldn’t stop it. The Wildcats won. Just like Tang drew it up.
This story was originally published January 18, 2023 at 3:47 PM.