Kansas State basketball guard Desi Sills crams New York tourist activities into a few hours
NEW YORK — When it comes to basketball, Desi Sills has been around.
In three years at Arkansas, one at Arkansas State and then this season with Kansas State, he has played on some of the biggest stages the college game has to offer.
But when K-State's team arrived in New York on Tuesday for the NCAA Tournament East Regional semifinals at historic Madison Square Garden, Sills immediately went from weary traveler to wide-eyed tourist.
"This is my first time ever," Sills said Wednesday while sitting in front of his locker in what typically serves as the New York Knicks' dressing room at the Garden.
No. 3 seed K-State (29-5) will face No. 7 Michigan State (21-12) in a Sweet 16 matchup, with the winner advancing to the Elite Eight on Sunday against either No. 4 Tennessee or No. 9 Florida Atlantic.
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But on Tuesday evening, before the Wildcats turned their full attention to Michigan State, coach Jerome Tang gave them a few hours off to explore the city, or in the case of their four players from New York, time to connect with friends and family.
Sills, a native of Jonesboro, Arkansas, had his own priorities.
"I wanted to walk Times Square," he said. "That's one thing I wanted to do, but I always wanted to get in a taxicab. I'm a country boy. My dream was always to get in a taxicab, so I got a taxicab, and I tried a different glizzy, like a hot dog."
Wildcat forward Nae'Qwan Tomlin, a New Yorker through-and-through, first headed to Harlem to visit with family, but later joined some of his teammates downtown. He was especially amused by Sills' fascination with things he always took for granted.
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"He's from Arkansas, so he talks about like fishing and stuff like that," Tomlin said. "He's not a city kid like I am.
"Everybody was asking me, like they'd never been on the train before, and (Sills) wanted to get a taxicab, so they did that. And he wanted to get a hot dog from a stand and get that New York tourist experience."
Or as Sills put it, "I basically did all the things that New Yorker always want to talk about."
Forward Keyontae Johnson, a Florida transfer from Richmond, Virginia, had been to New York before and he has played at Madison Square Garden. But he did join his teammates for their walk around the Times Square neighborhood near their hotel.
He said that of the four K-Staters from New York — the others are Markquis Nowell, Ismael Massoud and Tykei Greene — Tomlin probably is the most qualified tour guide.
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"Nae'Qwan, yesterday he called me on the phone, asking where we were at," Johnson said. "I forgot exactly where, but he was there in like two minutes. I don't know how."
Turns out it wasn't complicated.
"I told him to put the camera on and I knew exactly where he was," Tomlin said. "I know the city like the back of my hand, and I've been around everywhere.
"I don't need maps and stuff like that. I know where everything is."
Johnson, the Wildcats' leading scorer and rebounder, wishes he had sought Tomlin's advice about the taxis.
"We had curfew, and I thought the hotel was like five minutes away, and it took 20," he said with a smile.
Fortunately for everyone involved, he made curfew, so there were no consequences. And from Wednesday forward, with a place in the Elite Eight at stake, it was all business for the Wildcats.
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 explores New York before NCAA Sweet 16
