The question was bound to arise one day.
When Kansas State basketball forward Coleman Hawkins joined the Wildcats as a high-profile and expensive graduate transfer from Illinois, expectations were sky-high.
And while Hawkins has been one of K-State’s most versatile players, that hasn’t translated into success on the field for the Wildcats, who will play Wednesday’s 8 p.m. game against Baylor at Foster Pavilion of Waco, Texas, in a five-game series. losing streak.
So, looking back on his decision to transfer to K-State with a reported $2 million NIL deal, does Hawkins regret his decision, given the Wildcats’ struggles?
“Coach (Jerome Tang) talks all the time about fighting through adversity and preparing, and it’s my job to stand tall and persevere,” Hawkins said after the Wildcats’ 84-74 loss against Kansas on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. “I’m going to play the season and try to win as many games as possible for this program.
“That’s where my mindset is.”
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Hawkins’ response was no surprise to Tang, whose Wildcats are 7-10 overall and 1-5 in the Big 12 and face a Baylor team (11-6, 3-3) who has just suffered consecutive defeats.
“I didn’t expect him to say anything else,” Tang said. “That’s what we do. Life throws things at you, and you feel like a man, and you believe in who you are and what you do and you move on. Because no one stops to YOU.”
Hawkins was at his best against KU, leading the Wildcats with 15 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. He is averaging 10.8 points, 6.9 rebounds and a team-high 4.2 assists and leads the Wildcats in scoring in conference play with 13.8 points per game.
K-State showed improvement in its last two games, a 61-57 home loss to Texas Tech and then to KU, where after spotting a 20-4 Jayhawks lead, they got within six points in the second period.
“I feel like we’re about to shock a lot of people,” Hawkins said. “And pretty soon, I think we’re going to start winning basketball games. So, I’m just going to persevere and I’m going to play hard regardless.”
Tang agreed.
“We don’t have guys putting their heads down,” he said. “They’re high-character guys. And our last two practices were the best two practices of the year, and I expect the next ones to be better than the last ones, and we’re just going to continue to build and keep improve ourselves.
“That’s our goal, to keep improving, and at some point the results will appear on the scoreboard.”
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett Network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on X (formerly Twitter) at @arnegreen.
This article was originally published on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball forward Coleman Hawkins continues to move forward
