K-State Point Guard Dug McDaniel Brings Passion and Skill To The Men's Basketball Program
As much as the signing of transfer forward Coleman Hawkins made national news last month, the addition of former Michigan point guard Dug McDaniel in early April might be the key addition by Kansas State coach Jerome Tang.
A basketball team could have outstanding talent at four of the starting spots, but will never reach full potential without a skilled point guard. McDaniel checks that box while bringing playing experience from a power conference
Last season as a sophomore, McDaniel led the Michigan Wolverines in scoring, averaging 16.3 points and 4.7 assists.
And one of the best things Tang saw in McDaniel was competitive fire.
“Dug is a very passionate player,” Tang said. “His passion is what separates him. He has physical skills, but Dug is just a competitor.”
Tang is banking on McDaniel to grow from what he has learned in his first two seasons of collegiate basketball. And that growth will help the Wildcats immensely as they mesh 10 new players into one unit.
“He's got to learn how to always be thinking about the next plan,” Tang said. “Like it doesn't matter what just happened. What's the next thing he has to do as a point guard and the leader of this team, and so that's what we're talking about with him this summer.
“How to get to the next play and not worrying about what just happened and whether it was something good that happened or whether it's something bad that happened, like how do we move on to the next play? And then just the approach of being consistent.”
Consistency is what Tang is looking for the most from McDaniel.
“Let's deliver a consistent performance, whether it's practice with how you do your academic side, how you do everything, let's just be consistent in our work, and it'll produce consistent play,” Tang said.
David Boyce is a contributing writer to K-State On SI. He can be reached at davidboyce95@gmail.com.
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