Jerome Tang hopes Kansas State’s roster is “pissed off” following an 82-73 home loss to UCF on Wednesday night, as his programs sinks to 9-8 overall with a 0-4 start in Big 12 play and remain without a win in 2026.
Asked about the mood of his guys right now, Tang got blunt with reporters about the temperature of the locker room as of late.
“I hope they’re pissed off,” Tang said.
“Sometimes, like we went through earlier in the year, they came in and they were like, ‘Okay, coach tell us what we need to do.’ You could tell they were very coachable at that time. They didn’t think they had the answers. Hopefully, with these four loses they’ll come back in and be like ‘Okay coach, we don’t have the answers. You’ve got to help us.’ Because we’re giving them what they need, they just have to go out and they have to execute it, and at some point in time, it falls on their shoulders to do it.”
The Wildcats’ largest lead never grew beyond one possession in the first half, but they’d cut their margin to 1 via a P.J. Haggerty layup with 11 minutes to go.
Kansas State vs. UCF Game
Riley Kugel, leading UCF with 19 points, led the Knights past Kansas State in the end; Kugel and Jordan Burks each netted two triples and the Knights finished 7 of 15 (47%) overall behind arc. With a win in Manhattan, the Knights (11-1, 3-1 Big 12) add a third conference win to resume in addition to wins over Kansas and Cincinnati.
Haggerty managed a game-high 23 points, five rebounds and five assists, and Nate Johnson was a 3-pointer shy of a double-double. The Wildcats met UCF on the glass, finishing the night a board shy of matching UCF’s game-high 35 rebounds.
Tang opened his presser with a comment on his own headspace, going on to say he believes this team is close to putting it together on the floor.
“This calling of coaching is not for the faint of heart, especially in this league,” Tang said. “Three days ago, I probably couldn’t tell you guys that we were close but tonight we’re close. We had enough.”
Kansas State’s next-best odds at a win come at Oklahoma State (13-4, 1-3 Big 12) on Saturday, and Utah (8-9, 0-4 Big 12) at home next Tuesday, Jan. 20 – two matchups starting as low as $9 at the ticket office. Oklahoma State defeated UCF 87-76 at home a week ago.
