Jerome Tang visits the FAU dressing room after losing March Madness
Kansas State Coach Jerome Tang showed nothing but class as his team was eliminated from March Madness 2023 in the Sweet 16.
After the 3rd-seeded Wildcats lost 79-76 to the 9th-seeded Florida Atlantic at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, Tang visited the Owls’ locker room to deliver a congratulatory message.
“Your toughness, your cohesiveness, your ability to play for each other, the way you communicate with each other, nobody can beat you all,” Tang told the Florida Atlantic players. “Stay together, don’t get distracted in between. Stay locked up, keep doing what you are doing.”
Though they haven’t succumbed to the label after winning 35 regular-season games (the most in the nation) and the Conference USA Tournament, the Owls were perhaps the NCAA Tournament’s biggest Cinderella this year as they advanced to the Finals Four advanced.
Florida Atlantic defeated No. 8-ranked Memphis and No. 16-ranked Farleigh Dickinson (who had just beaten No. 1-ranked Purdue in the first round, only the second time in history that a No. 16-seeded player had beaten a No. 1 defeated seed) and Tennessee at number 4 before ending Kansas State’s run.
The Owls meet the winner of Sunday’s Elite Eight game between No. 6 Creighton and No. 5 San Diego State.
“You’re all the toughest son of a gun we’ve been playing with all year,” Tang concluded his message to the Florida Atlantic dressing room.
In his first season as head coach, Tang was instrumental in Kansas State’s unlikely rise.
The Wildcats hadn’t recorded a 20-win season or finished over .500 since 2018-19, but Tang — along with breakout star and Harlem native Markquis Nowell and inspirational forward Keyontae Johnson — turned the program into one of its best stories the world country.
Tang, 56, started out as a high school coach and served as an assistant coach at Baylor for almost two decades before finally getting his chance as head coach this year.
Tang helped make Baylor one of the top programs in the country and won the national championship with the team in 2021.
He immediately did the same with Kansas State, exceeding the most reasonable expectations.
And when he loses, he also seems to try to uplift his opponents.
https://nypost.com/2023/03/26/jerome-tang-visits-fau-locker-room-after-march-madness-loss/ Jerome Tang visits the FAU dressing room after losing March Madness
