5 April 2023
MANHATTAN, KS. (KSNT)- K-State head men’s basketball coach Jerome Tang opened up on Tuesday about the first Wildcat to enter the transfer portal this offseason.
Ismael Massoud, one of just two players who returned for K-State from the 2021-22 season, entered the transfer portal last week.
Tang says Massoud’s decision to transfer came after the two had a serious conversation about what success looks like, to the 6-foot-10 forward, moving forward.
“He told me what he was looking for, and I told him what my plans were for the team,” Tang said. “What he wanted and what I felt honestly we could provide for him wasn’t close, or the same.”
Tang says he wants the best for Massoud, and he didn’t want to promise him anything that he wasn’t certain K-State could provide in his final year of college hoops.
“He’s been so good to us, and for us, this past year that I want him to have every opportunity to have the success in his last year that he wants to have,” Tang said.
The goals of the team and the goals of the player didn’t seem to align, as Tang and Massoud looked ahead to the future.
“He wants to play 25 to 30 minutes a game,” Tang said. “We want to win the last game [of the season] and I don’t know how those two could fit together.”
Tang says the possibility remains that a rekindling could take place.
“I told him ‘Look, if you go out there and you don’t feel like people are telling you the truth- like you can get what you want out there at the level you want it, let’s revisit this conversation again,'” Tang said.
If Massoud does not return, K-State’s 2023-24 roster will be completely different than the roster Tang inherited in March of 2022.