How Jerome Tang miscalculated the final possession of Kansas State’s loss at OSU
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Tang misread Oklahoma State’s foul strategy, told players to prepare to shoot immediately.
- Oklahoma State avoided a late foul, gave Haggerty space and forced a deep miss.
- K-State could have attacked inside or fed Nate Johnson but failed to execute.
PJ Haggerty is Kansas State’s leading scorer, but even he has trouble finding the bottom of the net from half court.
With that in mind, it came as a surprise when the 6-foot-4 junior guard threw up a Hail Mary from logo range on the final play of an 84-83 loss against Oklahoma State on Saturday at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
The Wildcats were inbounding the ball from the sideline after a timeout with two seconds left in a back-and-forth game. They didn’t need a 3-pointer. A bucket of any kind would have won them the game.
So why did Haggerty attempt a desperation heave instead of looking to get the ball to a teammate closer to the rim?
Chalk it up to a miscalculation from K-State basketball coach Jerome Tang.
“They had fouls to give,” Tang said afterward, “because they played unbelievable defense in the second half and only fouled four times. When you have that many fouls to give at the end with two seconds, we thought they were going to maybe foul. So I told them, ‘If they foul you, make sure you get a shot up.’”
Baiting the Cowboys into a shooting foul could have won the game for the Wildcats.
Problem is, Oklahoma State coach Steve Lutz wanted no part of that scenario. In fact, he reminded his players not to foul in order to avoid it.
“My thought process was let’s not foul,” Lutz said. “Let’s just play it out.”
Oops.
Haggerty may have expected an OSU defender to be in his face when he caught the inbounds pass in the final moments. Perhaps that is why he put up a shot without hesitation and almost came up with a swish. But the Cowboys gave him space to shoot, and his attempt fell short.
In previous years, Lutz said he may have considered a different approach on defense. Maybe a quick foul would have effectively burned clock and forced K-State to run its final play multiple times last season. But not now that NCAA rules allow for continuation.
Any foul could have been immediately followed by a shot attempt from K-State, which could have resulted in points or free throws for the Wildcats.
“When they have the sideline out of bounds with today’s new rules,“ Lutz said, “it’s really nerve-wracking to foul if you can’t be there on the catch and foul them. If they have any sort of upward motion with today’s rules, you’re going to go to the free-throw line.
“Had they inbounded the ball in the frontcourt, we were going to foul because we obviously had, what, three fouls to give. But once they got it past half court and we didn’t steal it, my thought process (changed).”
Replays of K-State’s final possession show that the Wildcats could have tried to work the ball within the arc with a pass to Nate Johnson, who would have been in position to attempt a floater in the paint or kick a pass out to Abdi Bashir for a corner 3. Haggerty near midcourt appeared to be more of a secondary option.
It could have worked had Oklahoma State been looking for a quick foul. But it wasn’t.
“I have got to do a better job of communicating in those moments,” Tang said. “That would have probably helped.”