Coleman Hawkins Takes Responsibility In Kansas State's Loss To Drake
There could be many fingers pointed for Kansas State falling to Drake Tuesday night.
However, Coleman Hawkins instead took accountability for his performance. Hawkins scored 16 points but went 3 of 8 from the free-throw line and turned the ball over twice.
"I take accountability," Hawkins said. "I missed free throws, you gotta make free throws. I shot pretty well from the line last year, I don't know what the difference is this year. I take accountability when CJ made an elite play on the ball when we did turn the ball over. I was expecting him to foul or the guy to make a layup, so I didn't sprint back. So that's 100 percent on me. Just plays like that."
He says his selflessness was the catalyst to the team's comeback.
"I felt like when I touched the ball and was able to drive gaps and pitch it, we were able to make shots," Hawkins said. "So selfishly, I say I feel like good things were happening when I was touching the ball, but that's because other people were making plays off of that."
JEROME TANG SAYS PLAYERS STILL NEED ROOM TO GROW
Jerome Tang and Kansas State are no strangers to outside critiques.
Tang has been outspoken in defending his players against these criticisms, and he once again hopped to their defense after their Drake loss Tuesday night.
"It is hard, it changed how I was coaching early in the year," Tang said. "I had to find that balance because I'm called to love these dudes and help them mature. They're still young men who have to learn how to grow. The lack of leadership at the NCAA and some of the decisions that are made by people way above my pay grade have put us in a vacuum where we have no direction. And we thrust all this upon these young kids and tell them to go be adults."
Jayden Armant is a graduate of the Howard University School of Communications and a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats on SI. He can be reached at jaydenshome14@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.
Jayden is a journalism school graduate of Howard University. He was the 2024 recipient of the Terez Paylor scholarship award. He previously worked at the Orlando Sentinel.