Should Dug McDaniel Remain In Kansas State's Starting Lineup?
Kansas State guard Dug McDaniel got his second start of the season against the Cincinnati Bearcats Monday night.
The result pretty much tells the rest of the story. He scored 17 points on 53 percent shooting, his second-highest-scoring performance of the season.
But behind McDaniel's star play was a selfless mentality to aid his teammates and be a complementary team player.
“How can I do the next right thing? It’s not about me at the end of the day," McDaniel said. "I’m playing with four other guys on the court. If I make a mistake or mess up, I still have four other guys I can’t let down. So I can’t be all about me.”
He wanted to ensure he justified the coaches' faith in his play.
“I feel like tonight the coaches made a decision and I just made sure that I stepped up to the plate and let them know it wasn’t a bad decision,” McDaniel said.
Highly doubt the coaches were disappointed in their choice.
Coach Jerome Tang didn't initially plan to start McDaniel. However, in his typical biblical explorations, Tang recognized McDaniel deserved an opportunity to thrive despite his criticism of the transfer guard.
"I said, 'Dug, this is not me; this is God letting you know that he loves you, he cares about you, and he's thinking about you," Tang said. "I don't know how that's gonna impact your faith walk moving forward, but I just want you to know not to let him down because I have to be obedient to God."
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.