Kansas State basketball team is headed to Cincinnati for "biggest game of the year"
MANHATTAN — Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang isn't given to hyperbole, especially when it comes to the importance of one game over the next.
So, when he talks up the Wildcats' 6 p.m. matchup with Cincinnati on Saturday at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati, you had best believe there is something at stake.
Cincinnati is 16-12 overall and 5-10 in the Big 12 after losing three straight and five of its last six and is fighting for its NCAA Tournament life. K-State (17-11, 7-8 Big 12) was in a similar slump but now has won two straight just to climb back on the bubble with a week left in the regular season.
"We are in the same boat that they are in, and they have an advantage because they're at home," Tang said of the Bearcats. "This is the biggest game of the year, and not just because it's the next one.
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"This one's huge, and we might as well call this an NCAA Tournament game. I think whoever wins this game is going to the tournament. Not that whoever loses is not, but I think whoever wins this game is going to go to the NCAA Tournament."
After losing seven of their previous eight games, the Wildcats got back on track at home in the past week with an 84-74 victory over Cincinnati and then a 94-90 overtime decision against West Virginia.
So how much have the back-to-back wins bolstered their confidence?
"We never really lost our confidence," said Tylor Perry, who had a season-high 29 points in the West Virginia game. "It was just about putting the pieces back together, and this is a tough league. And as we've seen all year, this is a one-game season, and you can't look past anybody.
"In this league, you've got to bring it every night because it's going to be one-possession games, and we preach that all year. We just knew what we had to do, and we've tweaked a couple of things, and I think it's always good to be playing your best basketball going into March."
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Facing a reeling Cincinnati team, albeit on the road, is a golden opportunity for a K-State team that has won just one conference game away from Bramlage Coliseum. Especially with a challenging final week consisting of a trip to Kansas and then a home game against Iowa State.
That the Wildcats have used the word desperate to describe their current situation with regards to the NCAA Tournament is no accident.
"Well, urgency didn't work well enough," Tang said with a smile. "We tried to try to use the words, have a sense of urgency, that phrase, and it didn't seem to hit home. So, we thought maybe desperate would be better."
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 basketball gunning for third straight win at Cincinnati
