Why Jerome Tang’s new starting lineup has made a world of difference for Kansas State
Shortly after Jerome Tang made a change to Kansas State’s starting lineup a few weeks ago, he said it was too early to tell if the switch had made a profound impact.
Even though the Wildcats won their first game with Desi Sills at guard and Nae’Qwan Tomlin at the five spot, K-State’s basketball coach said he would need to go back and watch replays of the action before he jumped to any kind of conclusion about his new starters.
By now, the verdict is in. K-State has played four games with a smaller starting lineup and it has won all four of them. Not only have the Wildcats snapped out of a midseason funk that saw them drop four of five games in February, they are now playing perhaps their best basketball of the season as they push for a high seed in the NCAA Tournament at 23-7.
Sills and Tomlin have played so well in their new roles that it seems like they have unlocked this team’s full potential. Their talents were on display during a blowout victory over Oklahoma on Wednesday when Sills flirted with a triple-double (15 points, nine rebounds, eight assists) and Tomlin led the Wildcats with 19 points to go along with five rebounds.
K-State has relied on Keyontae Johnson and Markquis Nowell to do most of its heavy lifting on offense this season. Lately, though, the Wildcats are starting to look like more than a two-star team.
“Offense is always better when you have three guards on the floor,” Tang said. “It just provides so much more spacing. Then you have Keyontae at the four. He is really a guard, but he’s playing the four. Now the floor is really spaced and you’ve got a fast guy who could be a three but he’s playing the five. We are so much faster and there is so much more spacing.”
Both Tomlin and Sills have been at their best since K-State switched to a smaller lineup and began bringing forward David N’Guessan off the bench along with fellow bigs Abayomi Iyiola and Ismael Massoud.
Sills has delivered at least one monster play in all four of his starts. He had a breakaway dunk and a sensational assist against Oklahoma. He made a clutch layup coming out of a timeout against Oklahoma State. And he has also made some big contributions on defense.
The 6-foot-2 senior guard came up with a crowd-pleasing block against Oklahoma’s Otega Oweh on Wednesday when he rejected his layup attempt with a perfectly timed jump and swat.
“A lot of people don’t think I got bounce, but I got like a 40-inch vertical,” Sills said. “I tell my teammates all the time to let (their man) through because I am going to go (block) him. I’m going to time it perfectly every time. That’s one of my specialties. I like to play defense and get blocks and make a highlight play.”
Tang has come to expect a little bit of everything from Sills.
“He’s locked in,” Tang said. “He is just a winner, man. You could try to find other words, but that’s what it boils down to. Whatever you need that game to win he’s willing to provide.”
With Sills on the floor, Tomlin has moved from power forward to center. The 6-foot-10 junior has made the transition almost effortlessly.
He is averaging 11 points and 6.6 rebounds over his past five games in just 23 minutes of action per night. He is quickly becoming one of the most efficient players on the roster. Now that he is starting to make three-pointers, opponents have to respect every facet of his game. If he could do a better job avoiding fouls, his stats would be even higher.
That will be one of his main focuses as the Wildcats close out the regular season at West Virginia on Saturday. The longer he can stay on the floor — and keep K-State’s new starting lineup intact — the better.
“We are helping in a very big way,” Tomlin said. “We know teams like to key on Keyontae and Markquis so it helps when we have the other guys like me and Desi that can open the floor more and create more plays.”