Kansas State (1-0) moves from Big 12 country to the Pac-12 to take on Cal (0-1) on Friday at 7pmET from the Haas Pavilion.
K-State went 14-17 last season and went 6-12 in the Big 12. New coach Jerome Tang did win his debut with a 93-59 win over Texas Rio Grande Valley 93-59 on Monday at home. On that same day, Cal was shocked by UC Davis 75-65 at home as a 6-point favorite.
Tang is a former assistant at Baylor who took over a program that had four key losses including losing guard Nijel Pack to Miami. He did return guard Marquis Nowell (5-8, 160), who averaged 12.4 points and 5.0 assists last season. Nowell had 14 points and seven assists in the opener against Rio Grande Valley. They also had 14 points from Nae'Qwan Tomlin, a juco transfer, who also had eight rebounds.
Nearly two years ago, Keyontae Johnson collapsed coming out of a timeout while playing for Florida.
On Monday, he started and scored 13 points for Kansas State in his return to the court ?? pic.twitter.com/wuEarMe1ty
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 8, 2022
The key for K-State will be their defense, which struggled at times last season. They held their WAC opponent to just 39% shooting and 4-of-15 from 3-point range. The Wildcats shot 12 of 27 (44%) from beyond the arc. Last season, they shot 34% to rank third in the Big 12. Wing Keyontae Johnson (6-6, 230) went 3-of-5 from long range. The senior spent three seasons at Florida and averaged 16 points as a junior in 2020-21 in four games before suffering a medical emergency. If he can get back close to what he was in his junior season, Johnson's addition could help put the Wildcats into the NCAA Tournament.