Where were you at, say, Monday at 10:37 p.m.? Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang and his players will remember that moment for a while. That's when Tang, following the Wildcats' 75-70 overtime win against No. 4 Kansas, rushed into the stands and celebrated with the student section, bobbing, weaving, clapping and shaking, with a pair of signs that read "WE OWN THIS STATE" held by students above his head. That's when senior guard Tylor Perry, then Cam Carter, and then Arthur Kaluma, joined their teammates in high-fiving fans. That's also when K-State basketball really felt like K-State basketball again. There was no court storming, because, as Carter puts it, "We're used to winning, we're used to this, and there's going to be a lot more." But the Sunflower Showdown victory, which snapped the Wildcats' four-game losing skid, ran deeper than no court storming.
It began days ago with a head coach connecting deeper with his team. Tang in his postgame news conference, wearing the purple CRAZY FAITH t-shirt that was the buzz during the Wildcats' run to the Elite Eight last season, passionately explained it all. "I just dealt with their hearts," he said. Tang said that he hadn't connected with this team like he connected with last year's squad, and that "you could see they were just playing basketball."
"They weren't playing with this love, joy and freedom that we talk about," Tang explained. "They weren't doing it because they loved us as a staff. In this day in age in college basketball, it's hard to talk to kids about having pride in the uniform they wear when they've only been at your school for one year or two years. But as a staff, if we can connect with their hearts, then they play because they love us, and they know we're doing what we're doing because we love them, and that gives them that little extra fight.
"I saw that extra fight in them tonight because I was transparent with them, and I told them that I hadn't done a good job."
Tang continued.
"We spent a lot of time together the last couple days, but it was less about basketball and more about how much they mean to us and how much we believe in them and how much we believe in what they want to do. There's still a stronger heart connection that can take place. We can continue to play better basketball."
On Big Monday and before a nationally-televised audience on ESPN, K-State was the toast of college basketball and Manhattan was the epicenter of madness, as the students in "BEAT KU" t-shirts and the ones dancing to Sandstorm and the ones holding the signs and the ones waving large cutout heads of Tang and players absolutely lost their minds, and likely their voices, toward the end of regulation and again during overtime, particularly when Perry gave K-State a 67-66 lead on a circus layup in which he leapt high into the air, pulled the ball down equal to his ankles, then forced the ball upward with some serious ball spin, allowing the ball to find its home inside the rim.
"This league, God dang, anybody in America that would've come here tonight and played, it would've been a hard win with that crowd and everything else," Kansas head coach Bill Self said.
It's a rivalry, and a game, that Perry might never forget.
"There's nothing like this," said Perry, who scored 21 of his game-high 26 points in the second half and in overtime. "The way these fans interact, they were outside at two o'clock in the morning. I've never seen anything like this in my life. I'm blessed to be in the purple and white. I'm so thankful they showed up and showed out for us. It's a blessing to be a part of this rivalry.
"This is one you'll be able to tell your kids about."
Yes, there will be stories to tell. And here's a story to share: Truthfully, some people outside of the locker room didn't give the Wildcats — or Perry — a chance against the Jayhawks.
K-State, 15-8 overall and 5-5 in the Big 12 Conference, has scored not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but six overtime victories this season, tied for the most by a team in Division I history in a single season. But the Wildcats needed this win against Kansas, and they needed it bad. They suffered losses at No. 23 Iowa State (78-67) and at No. 4 Houston (74-52) and a disheartening loss against No. 23 Oklahoma (73-53) last Tuesday in Manhattan followed by a loss at Oklahoma State (75-72) on Saturday.
And now they have beaten Kansas two straight years in the Little Apple.
"We see what people say about us, but at the end of the day we know what we have, and we know what we're capable of in that locker room," Perry said. "I can't sit and worry about what people say about me. Coach Tang has told me and the rest of the team all year that the work is going to show. All you can continue to do is show up. That's the first step to winning is showing up.
"I think this team is going to continue to do that no matter what is happening. We believe we're a tournament team, and we can do damage when we get there. If we have 12-13 guys who believe in that, anything is possible."
Meanwhile, Kansas dropped to 18-5 and 6-4.
"It was a fun atmosphere," Kansas senior center Hunter Dickinson said. "You can tell there is certainly some disdain between the universities. It was a great environment. Unfortunately, we came up short."
The Jayhawks came up short against a team that is believing in Crazy Faith.
"This is what we're supposed to do," Perry said. "(Tang) said that we could play better than we did. That's the type of person he is. He always believes you can do so much better, and he believes in us so much. He instills that confidence in us. We're so blessed to have the best coach in America. I wouldn't want anybody else running the show."
The Wildcats now have five days before facing No. 21 BYU on the road. Then the Wildcats finish out the month of February against TCU, at Texas, against BYU and against West Virginia.
"When we say we take every game, win or lose, and put it in a box and move on, we do that," Tang said. "You can't allow wins to go to your head or losses go to your heart."
But alas, the heart is dear, and it is full, as the head coach has connected with his players, and his players with the fans, and there's Perry getting hugs in the stands, and there's Carter and Kaluma and their teammates celebrating the big victory, and there's Tang surrounded by students.
"We're building an expectation that these are games we're going to win and we're going to be that kind of program," Tang said. "I asked our fans last year, I said we'd get one court storming and after that let's have an expectation that we're going to win.
"I never see them storm the court at Allen Fieldhouse, I never seen them storm the court at Duke or North Carolina. I don't believe there's any reason why given time and the opportunity that we can't build that kind of program here in Manhattan, Kansas."
On Monday, it was the happiest place on earth.
"Normally every other time we've been here there's been a pretty good court storming," Self said. "Tonight, there wasn't that."
No, instead there was a head coach and his players who brought the celebration to the fans in the stands.
It's become the K-State way.
It was the perfect connection.
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