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MANHATTAN — Jerome Tan wasn’t quite sure what to do with the Sunflower showdown on the eve of his first meeting with Kansas as Kansas basketball head coach.
“I’ve never been here, so I really don’t know,” he said.
However, Tang is not the best in-state rival when the 15th-ranked Wildcats (15-2, 4-1, Big 12-win) face second-ranked KU (16-1, 16-1). I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to see out of the relationship. 5-0) Tuesday at 6pm, sold out he at the Bramlage Coliseum.
“The rivalry to me is not just because one fanbase doesn’t like the other fanbase, but when both teams win the game and it’s a close game. To make it a rivalry.” Both sides have to do something, but I don’t know if we made it into a rivalry.
“That’s what I’m here for. I’m trying to make this thing a rivalry.”
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To make that happen, Tang goes on to say he wants to see Wildcat fans reclaim their energy when the Jayhawks come to town. His message especially to his students: All you need is love.
“We don’t want our fans to come to the game because they hate other teams,” Tan said. “They love Kansas and want them to come.
“Our peers, every single person on our roster, didn’t choose the school because they hated someone else. They love us as staff, they love this community, they love this college.” I chose this school because I know that and I will be.I am interested in how we can really change this situation if we are motivated by love instead of hate.”
It couldn’t hurt. KU has dominated the series in recent years, with him winning 15 of 16 in the last seven games.
“I feel like it’s going to upset some people, but I feel like our community and families in Kansas allow too much to live rent-free in our heads,” Tan said. said, “This is one conference game. If you win, you win one. If you lose, you lose one. That’s it.”
“I came here trying to win the Big 12 Championship and the National Championship.”
more:Kansas State basketball can’t let the pain of its first Big 12 loss last
So Tang has a conundrum. On the one hand, he welcomes the fans’ passion for the Himawari showdown, while his message to his team is to see the big picture.
“That’s not going to win the national championship,” Tan said. “You can’t beat the Big 12. There’s no guarantee you’ll make it to the NCAA Tournament. No one will be drafted after this game.”
“If we win this game and lose the next four, what do we get? Scheduled for the next one.”
That said, the game does match two teams in the ranking — K-State finished 15th in USA Today’s Coaches Poll after losing 82-68 at TCU last Saturday, according to the Associated Press. It dropped to 13th in the top 25 of — ESPN TV viewers nationwide. Tang knows it, and so do his players.
KU is no stranger to the spotlight, but it’s new to most wildcats. In fact, only three of them have played against the Jayhawks: K-State’s Markquis Nowell and his Ismael Massoud, and last year he was Stony Brook’s Tykei Greene.
more:3 points from Kansas State Basketball’s first Big 12 loss in blowout 82-68 at the hands of TCU
“Yes, they are human. Yes, we have to adapt to it. Yes, we have dealt with it,” Tan said. “Yes, we talked about it, but they Still have to experience and live that feeling.
“And the team on the other side has been through it. They’re everyone’s Super Bowl. They got everybody’s best game, so they’re used to it.
And K-state fans can do their part to help them, Tang added.
“We love Kansas State so let’s go to every game,” he said. Let’s be Ob Doom.”
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers sports for Kansas State University on the Gannett network. You can contact him at [email protected] or @arnegreen on Twitter.
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