What Jerome Tang said after K-State freshman Dai Dai Ames was ejected at Texas

Dai Dai Ames was nowhere to be found in the final minutes of Kansas State’s 62-56 loss against Texas on Monday at Moody Center.

The freshman guard started the game for the Wildcats, but he wasn’t allowed to finish it.

Ames was ejected from the contest with 3 minutes, 21 seconds remaining when he committed an incredibly hard foul on Longhorns wing Chendall Weaver as he attempted to make a breakaway layup late in the second half in front of 10,905 fans.

On the play, Ames collided with Weaver and knocked him to the ground after he leaped toward the rim and Ames struck him in the upper body with his arm and body. Video replays and photos made it clear that Ames made contact with Weaver in the head without coming close to the ball.

Texas players charged at Ames and had some words for him as Weaver was slow to get up, but the situation didn’t escalate any more than that.

After both sides calmed down, the officials reviewed the play and decided it was a flagrant two foul. Then they sent Ames to the locker room.

The crowd sent him off with a chorus of boos and Texas closed out the game for an important win that will boost its NCAA Tournament chances. K-State, on the other hand, suffered its seventh loss in eight games.

Some may call the foul dirty. K-State coach Jerome Tang hopes it can be used as a learning experience.

“Dai Dai is a freshman,” Tang said. “He has got to learn when he can make a play and when he can’t. He wasn’t trying to hurt Weaver and I hope everything is OK with him.”

This is the second time this season that Ames has been ejected from a game.

He was also kicked out of a contest against Providence for throwing a punch. That penalty earned him a suspension from the following game against Miami.

There will be no such extra penalty this time around. But it was a foul that the Wildcats hope won’t be repeated.

Here’s what Tang said he told Ames afterward:

“That you can’t grab somebody in the head,” Tang said. “He said, “I tried to go for the ball.’ Well, if you didn’t think you could get the ball you have to let him go, because you don’t want to hurt anybody. He was really distraught that he got put out of the game and he just didn’t want to do anything to hurt anybody.”

Ames was held to a quiet game against the Longhorns, as he finished with just two points.

Texas coach Rodney Terry and his players didn’t seem to be upset about the foul after the game was over.

Tyrese Hunter was one of the Texas players who had words for Ames on the court, but he seemed to let it go late Monday night.

“I know it probably wasn’t intentional,” Hunter said. “No hard feelings about it. There are just so many hard emotions about the game. That’s all there was to it.”

Terry agreed.

“In those situations, you don’t fault those guys for that,” he said. “You have got to try to put them on the line and not let them have an explosive play that gets them going.

“I don’t think there was any negative intent on the play itself ... Those plays happen. They happen at every level. You can’t let your emotions get the best of you.”