MANHATTAN — In the realm of Kansas State basketball, forward Coleman Hawkins faced a challenging night. He had just endured a performance where he missed 10 of his 11 shots, a display that was far from inspiring during the early weeks of the season. Against a team that had been routinely defeated by others, the Wildcats needed to find their footing.

Coach's Encouragement and Focus on Winning

Rather than dwelling on the negatives, Hawkins took Coach Jerome Tang's words to heart. After K-State's 74 - 56 victory over Mississippi Valley State at Bramlage Coliseum on Tuesday night, Hawkins emphasized the importance of winning. "Tonight, the good thing is we won. That’s all that really matters," he said. The 6 - foot - 10 Illinois transfer, whose missed shots mostly came around the basket where he otherwise dominated, knew that improvement was on the horizon. "Coach just said to me I improved in the area he wanted me to improve. The shots weren’t falling but we won. So that’s all that really matters."

Rebounding and Offense Balance

As Tang has previously pointed out, Hawkins doesn't let an off night on offense negatively impact the rest of his game. Against Mississippi Valley State, while his shots were bouncing off the rim alarmingly, he tied a career high with 13 rebounds, seven of which were on the offensive end. He also added four assists and three steals. Tang was pleased with Hawkins' performance, stating, "What was lacking is rebounding, and he did it today, and so I’m fine. Because he’s a good basketball player. I see him (making shots) in practice all the time … so him missing layups was all right. Not all right, but it didn’t bother me because he got us 13 rebounds and seven of them were offensive rebounds, and he hadn’t done that all year long."

Rebounding in Previous Games and Practice Focus

In the previous game against LSU, the Wildcats were manhandled on the boards, having 14 fewer rebounds than their opponents. This led to a 76 - 65 loss. Over the past several days, rebounding and transition defense became the mantra in practice, and it seemingly paid off against Mississippi Valley State. K-State outrebounded the Delta Devils 45 - 26 and limited them to just two fast - break points. Tang was excited about the progress, saying, "Tonight, we worked on a couple of things the last few days and I thought we executed those things. And so, we have a building block to move forward from, so I’m excited about that. I was very pleased with the execution of the things that we worked on."

Second Half Comeback and Lineup Adjustments

The Wildcats needed a big second half to secure the victory against Mississippi Valley State. They led just 25 - 23 at halftime. Coach Tang is still tinkering with the lineup, looking for the right combinations. Point guard Dug McDaniel, who had 16 points and five assists in his first start against LSU, did not get off the bench in what Tang described as a "coach’s decision." Tang emphasized the importance of the staples of the game, such as transition defense, boxing out, and defensive rebounding. "We’re just really trying to figure it out, and it’s going to take us a little while," he said. "But none of that matters if we don’t have the staples, the meat and potatoes, the transition defense, so that they have to play us five - on - five. Limit them to one shot, boxing out and defensive rebounding, and then getting second - chance shots on the other end. None of that matters if we don’t do those things. So, that’s what we’ve got to get everybody to buy into, and then we can figure out the other stuff."

Individual Contributions and Self - Assessment

The Wildcats got a career - high 16 points from 7 - footer Ugonna Onyenso and 12 from point guard C.J. Jones against Mississippi Valley State. And Hawkins was active everywhere but in the scoring column. In assessing his overall game, Hawkins was honest with himself. "If I’m being honest, I’m a little too hard on myself, but personally I give myself and F," he said. "I know some of the fans that were booing would probably give me and F too, but I’ll only get better from here as long as everyone stays patient I wouldn’t panic."K-State now heads to the U.S. Virgin Islands for three games in four days at the Paradise Jam, where they open at 7 p.m. Friday against George Washington.Arne Green, based in Salina and covering Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network, can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on X (formerly Twitter) at @arnegreen.