Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang not surprised by Texas Tech's fast start

Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang has known Texas Tech counterpart Grant McCasland long enough not to be surprised.

He's not surprised that Tech is off to a 13-2 start with a 2-0 Big 12 record in his first season, and he certainly isn't surprised that the Red Raiders bear little resemblance to McCasland's previous team at North Texas.

"They're trying to play faster," said Tang, whose Wildcats (12-3, 2-0) will face his old colleague at 3 p.m. Saturday in their stiffest conference challenge to date at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. "In our league, you can't just play a super slow pace.

"You've got to try to get transition points. You've got to take shots when they're available."

McCasland learned as much during his years at Baylor, where he and Tang spent several seasons together as assistant coaches under Scott Drew.

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That is why this Red Raider team is a far cry from McCasland's last North Texas team that last year won an NIT championship. While the Mean Green averaged just 64.5 points per game and gave up just 55.8, Tech is scoring at a 78.8-point clip and surrendering 65.2, both middle of the pack in the 14-team Big 12.

"The defenses in our league are just way too good to try and grind it down to the end of the shot clock and get a shot off," Tang said. "What I know about Grant is he's going to do whatever it takes to win.

"For him, it's all about winning. Like how does what we do, how does that convert to winning games. And so, whatever it takes, he's going to figure it out and get it done."

That formula has served both Tech and K-State well so far in the Big 12. McCasland's team has won eight straight, including a 78-67 upset of No. 20 Texas and a 90-73 drubbing of Oklahoma State at home to start conference play.

Related: Kansas State basketball subs make the most of limited bench minutes in West Virginia win

K-State has won four in a row and eight of its last nine, opening with a 77-52 blowout of Central Florida and then going on the road to beat West Virginia on Tuesday night, 81-67.

For both coaches, that has meant shortening their benches and relying on a core group of seven players. Foul trouble forced Tang to use all 11 scholarship players at West Virginia, but Dorian Finister was the only reserve to reach double digits in minutes played with 22.

Still, Tang was not complaining. For one thing, he got six productive minutes from backup post Jerrell Colbert in the second half, and much more important was the end result.

"Yeah, we got the dub (win)," Tang said. "Every game is its own season. Every game is brand new. And so, every game, whatever we need to do that night to figure out how to get that dub — put us in a position to win — we're going to do, whether it's (by) seven, eight, 11. Whatever it takes."

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While the game will serve as a reunion of sorts for McCasland and Tang, the same is true for K-State point guard Tylor Perry, who played the past two season under McCasland at North Texas.

"It'll be fun. It will definitely be exciting," Perry said back in October at Big 12 media days. "We know each other well of course.

"And it would be a bit of a bittersweet moment because he's not the only coach that went with him from North Texas. The guy who recruited me (out of Coffeyville Community College), Matthew Braeuer, is also on his staff at Tech, so it will definitely be fun and I'm excited for that matchup."

There again, Tang sees nothing unusual in today's era of the transfer portal, about a former player and coach facing each other, both with new teams.

"It is what it is," Tang said. "As it was appropriate for Grant to do well at North Texas and then go get the Texas Tech job, it is appropriate for Tylor Perry to do well at North Texas and then move to a higher level, and I'm thankful he picked us."

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's Jerome Tang to meet former colleague Grant McCasland