Kansas State men’s basketball enjoys festive atmosphere in front of T-Mobile Center crowd

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With the Big 12 season rapidly approaching, Kansas State coach Jerome Tang likes what he is seeing from his Wildcats.

So much so, in fact, that following the Wildcat men’s basketball 71-56 victory over Nebraska, he followed along with the pep band and broke into a little victory dance.

"Was I dancing?" Tang said with a chuckle. "Look at the students. They're on Christmas break and that student section was incredible. I mean, how do you not dance?"

What had Tang and an enthusiastic T-Mobile Center crowd of 13,164 so pumped was watching an energized Wildcat team that ran, defended, shot and dunked its way past the Cornhuskers.

"The fans, the energy in that building, it's wonderful. I'm blown away," Tang said. "This is so much fun.

"I know at some point in time this things' got to level off — that's what they say — but for right now, it's pretty darn good."

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Things were indeed good for the Wildcats for most of the night. Except for a late run during which Nebraska briefly cut the lead to seven points, K-State was firmly in control.

At 10-1, the Wildcats are off to their fastest start since the 2016-17 season, and Tang extended what is the best start by a first-year coach in school history.

"We've got some competitors, and they want to win," Tang said. "And I think every day, our care factor is growing.

"That we care more about winning than we care about individual stats and stuff."

The statistics backed him up. The Wildcats had 20 assists on 24 made baskets, and they had five emphatic dunks in the first half alone on the way to a 39-26 lead at the break.

"Once we heard the crowd, it gave us more energy," said senior forward Keyontae Johnson, who had two of the dunks on the way to a 23-point performance that also included a team-best 11 rebounds and four steals. "(The dunks) give the game more excitement.

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"A lot of people came out to see us, so the best thing we can do is have fun out there and give the crowd what they want to see."

Johnson was just one of four double-figure scorers for the Wildcats. Nae'Qwan Tomlin added 15 points — including three dunks and two 3-pointers to go with seven rebounds — Markquis Nowell had 13 points and seven assists, and Cam Carter scored 10.

David N'Guessan, the other starter, had just three points, but grabbed eight rebounds and more importantly helped shut down Nebraska forward Derrick Walker. Walker, who came in averaging 15.3 points and 8.8 rebounds, was limited to seven points and six boards in 27 minutes.

"I felt we got him frustrated in the first half," said Tomlin, who teamed with N'Guessan in defending Walker, who made just 1 of 5 shots from the field and did not score in the first half. "He was getting a lot of fouls, so me and David most definitely (shut him down)."

K-State held Nebraska (6-6) t0 32.1% shooting and forced 18 turnovers that led to 19 points. The Wildcats also had nine steals.

While Nebraska brought a small and vocal fan contingent, but the crowd was decidedly and enthusiastically pro-Kansas State. That was a nice change for Tang, whose previous experience with the T-Mobile Center was limited to the Big 12 Tournament during his 19 years as a Baylor assistant.

More:Kansas State basketball thankful for quick turnaround after suffering first loss

"I was blown away by our fan support," Tang said. "The staff, they came in, I think it was after the first warmup period, and Jareem (Dowling) was like, 'Coach, the energy out there is different. It's like an NCAA Tournament game. It's buzzing.'

"I was trying not to let everybody see me look up in the rafters and go, 'Crap, there are people up there, too.' It was like all around. It was really cool. I've played in T-Mobile before, but we've never had a home court advantage."

Johnson, a first-year transfer from Florida, also was impressed by the turnout.

"From my past experience, when I was at Florida, we played in Tampa, Florida, and we didn't have really that many Florida fans in there, so seeing the whole stadium full of K-State fans, it was (impressive)."

If there was one drawback for K-State, it was the fact that fans only got to see seven Wildcats take the court. Desi Sills played 28 minutes and Tykei Greene 10 off the bench, and that was it.

Tang said he would like to see that rotation expand, but with one caveat.

"If you're going to play, you've got to be tough, and you've got to be willing to make winning plays, and it starts at practice," he said. "That's what we're looking for, more guys who are willing to make winning plays, and they bring it every day at practice.

"We need more buy-in to allow our bench to grow."

The Wildcats have one more tune-up game Wednesday — a 1:30 p.m. tipoff against Radford at Bramlage Coliseum — before they play host to West Virginia in their Big 12 opener on Dec. 31.

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 basketball puts on a show for Kansas City crowd