When David N’Guessan committed to Kansas State, not many fans had heard his name or were familiar with his game on the floor. 

Head coach Jerome Tang had just been hired and had to assemble a team, and one of the earliest players he earned a commitment from was Virginia Tech transfer N’Guessan. 

After a limited role at Virginia Tech, N’Guessan arrived at K-State looking to make an impact for a fan base that was deprived of competitive basketball for a few seasons. 

The impact he had was even bigger than his head coach imagined. N’Guessan scored 21 points against Colorado on Sunday, including reaching his 1,000th career point. 

“I don’t know if you would have told him when he transferred after two years at Virginia Tech, ‘You’ll go and score 1,000 points in your career,’” Tang said. “I think that’s pretty cool that we were able to help him do that, and he’s put in the work to develop to get there.”

N’Guessan, now after almost three seasons, leaves many great memories in the minds of K-State fans, even from positions you wouldn’t expect a 6-foot-9 forward to succeed in. 

These include his fade-away 3-pointer against Michigan State in the 2023 Sweet 16 — or the step-back buzzer-beater jumper before half against KU this season, helping lead the way to his perfect 3-0 mark at home in the Sunflower Showdown. 

However, perhaps the play that encompassed N’Guessan perfectly came this season when he fouled Arizona State’s Jayden Quaintance at the end of the game instead of giving up the dunk. 

“Jayden Quaintance is flying through the air,” Tang said after the game. “I’m saying to myself, ‘How did that happen?’ I’m thankful that David N’Guessan didn’t give up on the play and fouled him.”

K-State was up by one at the time, and Quaintance went on to miss both free-throws, resulting in a K-State win in the middle of its six-game win streak. 

That week, N’Guessan was named Big 12 Player of the Week, averaging 21 points on 70.8% (17-of-24) shooting with 7.5 rebounds in 34.4 minutes per game in victories over the Sun Devils and Jayhawks.

The foul may be overlooked, but it won K-State the game. Throughout his career, he consistently made the winning play, and the tremendous effort he gives won a lot of ‘Cats fans over. 

In N’Guessan’s first season with the ‘Cats, he played in 29 games, including 18 starts. Four starts came in the NCAA tournament when the Wildcats went on their Elite Eight run — which N’Guessan was a big part of as a junior. 

During their run in the tournament, N’Guessan scored double figures twice against Montana State and Michigan State. In the all-time classic game against the Spartans, N’Guessan had 11 points and went a perfect 5-5 from the field. 

N’Guessan averaged a team-best 70.6 field goal percentage that season and averaged 6.4 points per game. He was the perfect role player to complement teammates Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson.

However, with those two players graduating, N’Guessan knew he would have to step up his leadership in his next season in the Little Apple.

N’Guessan, a native of the Netherlands, played for the Dutch National team in the summer of 2023, which helped N’Guessan improve his play and made him a better leader.

When he returned to K-State for his first senior season, the hard work and effort paid off, and he quickly became a fan favorite as opposed to a role player. 

N’Guessan had a career-best in almost every single offensive scoring stat that season, averaging nearly eight points per game — a steady improvement from last season. 

However, after being a top 25 team for most of his first year, the Wildcats sat on the bubble for most of the season and ended up falling short of the NCAA tournament. 

After the last home game of the season, students and fans were aware that N’Guessan could come back for a super senior season and chanted to him, “One more year.”

N’Guessan did decide to play one more season and wanted it to be at K-State. In the era of the transfer portal, staying loyal to a school is rare, but N’Guessan chose Manhattan — even after the expectations for the season fell short and many of his teammates transferred.

In his fifth and final season, N’Guessan once again upped his play, showing that the hard work he put in was paying off. 

“I feel like he’s one of the very few guys in the country that understands his role and excels at what he does best,” guard Dug McDaniel said. “It’s evident in the work he puts in; he’s in the gym every day, so everything he’s doing is not a surprise for me. His consistency and leadership are going to help us finish strong.”

N’Guessan averages a team-high 13 points per game this year and has brought his game to an entire new level. While the Wildcats’ season was a roller coaster, N’Guessan was consistent all year. 

Now, he looks to lead the Wildcats to a senior day upset win over Iowa State. Then the Wildcats will be off to the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City. The ‘Cats have shown they can get hot and win multiple games in a row, which it will take to win the tournament next week. 

“I’m just trying to enjoy it as much as I can and finish strong,” N’Guessan said. “ I want to win, and then we can go make a run in the Big 12 tournament. I’m just trying to take it all in and have as much fun as possible, and that comes with winning.”

K-State finishes the regular season with Iowa State at home on Saturday, looking to position itself in a decent seeding spot at Kansas City.