‘I’m having a blast’: Sharpshooter Brendan Hausen off to dream start at Kansas State
Bramlage Coliseum feels like a basketball paradise for Brendan Hausen.
The junior guard has only played two games in a Kansas State uniform since he transferred in from Villanova, but they have been two of the best games of Hausen’s entire college career. He drained four 3-pointers and scored 17 points in his debut against New Orleans and then followed that up with six 3-pointers and 22 points against Cleveland State.
His numbers are way up from when he averaged 17.6 minutes of action as a sophomore and 8.9 minutes as a freshman.
Hausen is now in the starting lineup and leading the Wildcats in scoring.
“I’m having a blast,” Hausen said. “I mean, what’s not to love? I’m in a great town with a great team and a great group of guys. I’m enjoying it.”
It’s been a while since K-State had a player like Hausen.
The 6-foot-4 former four-star recruit from Amarillo, Texas, is a hyper-aggressive shooter who plays with the confidence of an NBA All-Star after he sees one of his long-range shots splash through the net.
He has attempted nine 3-pointers in both of his games this season, but he launched 14 in a preseason exhibition. Nothing, it seems, can prevent him from bombing away behind the arc.
Perhaps that is why the home crowd has already embraced him as a fan favorite. No one is going to tell him to stop shooting when he’s making 55.6% of his 3-pointers.
“I don’t care if he shoots 14 3s,” K-State teammate Coleman Hawkins said. “I love when he shoots 14 3s. I love when Brendan shoots the ball, especially when I pass it to him because I feel like it’s going in every time and it’s just another assist for me. I love when Brendan shoots the ball. He’s an elite shooter, and he showcases it in practice every day.”
Still, some have been surprised by Hausen’s immediate impact at K-State.
After all, this is a guard who only averaged 6.2 points last season for a Villanova team that missed the NCAA Tournament.
But K-State coach Jerome Tang had a feeling that Hausen could reach his full potential in Manhattan. Both Tang and associate head coach Ulric Maligi recruited Hausen and watched him light up scoreboards at the high school level in Texas.
Tang scoffed last week when a reporter told him that Hausen scored a career-high 22 points against Cleveland State. He saw him score double that in games as a recruit.
“I expected him to play like this from his freshman year,” Tang said. “I watched him in high school and saw his toughness, his competitiveness and his shot-making ability. He’s just a gamer, man, and a winner.”
Now that Hausen has flashed his potential, K-State is trying to help him develop into a complete player.
Tang has challenged him to improve as a defender so opposing teams can’t pick on him. Hausen is trying to complement his 3-pointers with the occasional layup, assist and rebound.
Nobody is putting a ceiling on Hausen after the way he has begun his K-State basketball career.