Kansas State basketball eager to celebrate upcoming Christmas break on a positive note
MANHATTAN — Regardless of what happens during Kansas State's matinee game Wednesday against Radford, the Wildcat players will scatter later in the day for a Christmas break.
Jerome Tang's message to his team before the final nonconference tune-up is simple: Don’t check out too early.
"Our focus is to make sure that our guys don't go home before we play that game," Tang said. "Everybody's going to have Christmas. The difference between Christmas and a merry Christmas is a win, and so that's what we're going to be locked in on."
The 1:30 p.m. game against Radford is the second half of a doubleheader at Bramlage Coliseum, with the K-State women taking on Morgan State at 11 a.m. And it comes on the heels of a decisive 71-56 victory over Nebraska on Saturday night in Kansas City.
The Wildcats then will take a short Christmas hiatus before West Virginia visits Bramlage at 6 p.m. on Dec. 31.
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K-State forward Keyontae Johnson, who led the Wildcats with 23 points and 11 rebounds against Nebraska, said after the game that the Cornhuskers already were in the rearview mirror.
"We're on to the next game," he said. "We've got this dub (win). Now it's going to Radford and try to win that game and get the momentum for conference play and just keep everything going.
"Keep pushing and doing what we've got to do."
Nobody has been more instrumental in K-State's 10-1 start than Johnson, the Florida graduate transfer who leads the team with 17.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Tang said the Wildcats largely have Radford coach Darris Nichols to thank for that.
"He was the assistant at Florida that recruited Keyontae, and Darris is a big reason why Keyontae is at K-State," Tang said. "He co-signed it for us and helped us in the recruiting process.
"Part of the agreement for him helping us, he kept throwing in there that Keyontae could only play 10 minutes in this game. I never signed off on that one, but I'm sure he'll be reminding me between now and then."
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Radford is 6-6 in its second season under Nichols after going 11-18 a year ago. The Highlanders are 4-0 at home, but come into this game with three straight losses, at VMI (77-74), VCU (70-62) and Eastern Kentucky (67-65).
"Radford is very good. Darris Nichols does an unbelievable job," Tang said. "They've been playing great. They've been in a bunch of close games against really good teams."
In addition to the last three games, Radford opened the season with a 79-69 loss at Marquette and then fell 79-76 at Notre Dame. Freshman guard Kenyon Giles leads a balanced Highlander attack with 12.2 points per game, followed by sophomore guard Justin Archer with 11.2 and Villanova transfer Bryan Antoine with 10.0.
K-State has won four straight games since suffering its only loss on Nov. 30 at Butler. The Wildcats are getting 14 points and 8.1 assists a game from Markquis Nowell and 10.4 points with 5.8 rebounds from Nae'Qwan Tomlin.
The Radford game will not be televised, but will stream live on ESPN+/Big 12 Now.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State men's basketball to face Radford before Christmas break
