Wildcats looking for sellout crowd to bring the noise against Kansas in Sunflower Showdown
MANHATTAN — Jerome Tang and most of his Kansas State basketball roster finally got a taste of Bramlage Coliseum at full volume last week when the Wildcats held on to beat Oklahoma State to remain unbeaten in the Big 12.
Now they're counting on that same raucous crowd to help get them back on track coming off a disappointing loss.
The Wildcats, who suffered their first conference setback Saturday at TCU, are back at Bramlage on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. edition of the Sunflower Showdown against No. 2-ranked Kansas. They should be greeted by a second straight sellout of 11,000.
"I've been waiting for that. That's the thing I remember," Tang said after joining the student section for a celebration following last Tuesday's 65-57 victory over Oklahoma State. "Our students, that section was just terrific. The fans all around were terrific.
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"When I thought of coming here and having the opportunity to coach here, that's what I envisioned."
Tang was no stranger to Bramlage, having spent the previous 19 years as an assistant at Baylor. But that was his first time to experience it as the Wildcats' head coach, and it was in fact the first sellout since before the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, when the arena was affectionately referred to as the Octagon of Doom.
Senior Florida transfer Keyontae Johnson, who leads the Wildcats in scoring at 18.4 points per game and in rebounding at 7.1, was impressed.
"It was one of the best crowds I've ever been around," he said. "It was definitely loud.
"We couldn't hear the play call when we were trying to switch on defense, so (the fans) can bring that every game."
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The Wildcats, now 15-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big 12, can certainly use the help when they take on a Kansas team (16-1, 5-0 Big 12) that has won the last seven meetings between the teams and nine of the last 10.
So will facing their in-state rivals at home make it easier to turn the page following the 82-68 loss to TCU in a game that was not really that close? Yes and no, according to Tang.
"Having the home court is definitely a big help," Tang said. "I don't know if it's been a rivalry because rivalry means both teams win, right? I don't know if we've done anything to make it a rivalry yet."
Tang no doubt was looking to fire up his team by refusing to call it a rivalry, but Johnson, who will face the Jayhawks for the first time, doesn't see it that way.
"I know it's a big rivalry game," he said after the TCU loss. "It's going to be highly intense. That's why I came to this conference, just to play these types of games.
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"They've got a lot of history behind them, and (I'm) just ready to compete and ready to get out there again."
Kansas comes in with a 10-game winning streak, but only one of its four league victories has been by more than four points. The Jayhawks edged Iowa State at home on Saturday, 62-60.
KU is led by redshirt junior forward Jalen Wilson, who like Johnson leads his team in scoring (19.8) and rebounding (8.9). Freshman Grady Dick adds 14.6 points, Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar 10.8 and forward KJ Adams 10.7.
The game also will feature a matchup of two of the league's, if not the nation's, top point guards in K-State senior Markquis Nowell and KU redshirt junior Dajuan Harris. Nowell is averaging 17.1 points per game, but scoring at a 25.4-point clip with 8.8 assists in the conference, while Harris gives the Jayhawks 8.1 points and 6.2 assists.
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 Kansas in front of sellout crowd
