Kansas State men’s basketball salvaged its Paradise Jam appearance with a third-place finish on Monday.
The Wildcats, who leave the Virgin Islands at 5-2, dropped their semifinal matchup against Liberty 67-65 before downing Longwood 80-64 in the third-place game.
“It’s just a blessing to watch our guys mature, grow and come together,” head coach Jerome Tang said to K-State Athletics. “It’s not a microwave thing. It’s going to take some time. We learned yesterday about how to close out the first half and we closed this half the right way against what I think is an NCAA Tournament team in Longwood.”
Forward Coleman Hawkins had his best game as a Wildcat in the Longwood matchup, compiling 19 points across 70% shooting, including a mark of 5-7 from long distance. The Illinois transfer also notched a double-double with 10 rebounds and five assists.
“It felt good to finally play like myself,” Hawkins said to the ESPN+ broadcast. “I feel like I’ve been overthinking a lot of things throughout the season … I apologize to our fanbase.”
The sharpshooting of Hawkins and guard Brendan Hausen sparked K-State’s offense with a scoring burst late in the first half that propelled K-State to the win. Hausen spotted 16 points with a 3-4 mark from beyond the arc.
“Oh, man. [Hawkins] opens up everything for everybody,” Tang said. “And I know his nature is that he wants to get his teammates involved. But at this point in his career and where we’re at, we need him to be a guy who will put up shots and make them obviously but put them up.”
Point guard Dug McDaniel carded 11 points and six assists. K-State posted season-highs for field goal percentage (58.9 percent/33-of-56) and 3-point field goal percentage (55.0 percent/11-of-20).
Center David N’Guessan continued his streak of double-digit scoring with 10 points. The returning big man has posted double-digits in eight consecutive games.
Against Liberty, K-State had a chance to win it late after finding an open shot from beyond the arc but ultimately fell short of a title game appearance against McNeese State — the eventual tournament champions.
“I told the guys [Liberty] was going to be a one-possession game, and we have to embrace being in a place of fire. That’s an NCAA Tournament team there,” Tang said after the semifinal. “That’s why we’re here, to learn from this, to grow from this. We don’t need this thing to be easy. Two weeks ago, we wouldn’t have been in this position.”
K-State is back at home to host Arkansas Pine Bluff at 1 p.m. Sunday.
