Kansas State coach Jerome Tang critical of small student crowd at latest home game
Something was bothering Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang after the Wildcats defeated West Virginia 94-90 in overtime on Monday at Bramlage Coliseum, and it had nothing to do with what had just transpired on the hardwood.
Tang was happy about the way his team found a way to beat the Mountaineers, even after blowing a 25-point lead. Any and all victories are hard to come by in the Big 12. He wasn’t going to apologize for winning in a stressful manner.
But he was upset that only a small group of K-State students were on hand to celebrate with him.
For the second straight game, the Wildcats (17-11, 7-8 Big 12) played in front of rows and rows of empty seats in the student section. Tang has gone out of his way to build a strong relationship with the K-State student body during his two seasons on campus, and they usually show up in strong numbers.
Not lately. He wants that to change.
“Thankful for the win, thankful for our students who showed up,” Tang said after the game. “Got to have a talk with professors who have exams on game nights and see if we can do something about that.
“But I just want to put a challenge out to our students. They text me, they hit me on Instagram and ask me to re-post things and to come by their sororities and fraternities and have dinner and speak. We show up. We do that and when we have a home game I need them to show up.”
Tang has challenged K-State fans to fill the Octagon of Doom a few times during his time with the Wildcats.
Fans usually respond positively. The last time Tang called for a boost in attendance he got exactly what he wanted and the Wildcats won an important home game against Villanova in front of a juiced crowd. He said his words came from a place of love.
It will be interesting to see how fans respond this time. It’s easy to understand why crowds were small for the past two home games against BYU and West Virginia. The Wildcats entered those games having lost seven of eight.
Both games also had to compete with unusually warm weather and odd start times of 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.
But those aren’t good reasons to skip a home basketball game, according to Tang.
The Wildcats are back on the NCAA Tournament bubble now that they have won consecutive games, and he wants the biggest crowd possible backing his team when K-State returns home on senior day for a game against Iowa State.
“They are a 10- to 15-point advantage when we have the 5,000 to 7,000 (students) in there, and it makes a difference,” Tang said. “We haven’t had that the last couple of games. Blessed that we were able to get the wins, but if we’re going to win the next home game we need them to show up.”
