Jerome Tang did something strange near the end of Kansas State’s demoralizing 73-53 loss to Oklahoma on Tuesday at Bramlage Coliseum. He called a timeout with 28 seconds left. Why? Good question. The Wildcats were trailing by 18 at the time. For all intents and purposes, the game was over. Oklahoma coach Porter Moser had already checked in his walk-ons and most of the lavender-clad fans who showed up to cheer on the home team were long gone. Still, Tang had something he wanted to tell his team in that moment, even if it meant annoying some in attendance. “I wanted our guys to know that was on me,” Tang said afterward. “This loss tonight was on me. I didn’t want them to hang their heads, I didn’t want them to … sometimes things can go from your head to your heart. I didn’t want this loss to go to their heart. This was on me. I can’t go into details, I’m just telling you that this one was on me and I will correct it and do better.” Tang also apologized to K-State fans for letting them down with the worst home loss of his tenure in Manhattan.

“I want to thank our fans,” Tang said. “They were incredible tonight. They brought energy and they gave us a chance. I want to apologize that I didn’t have our guys ready to play. This is not on them. This is on me.” Tang is always willing to shield his players from criticism, but he seemed adamant about doing so after this defeat. There are probably a few reasons for that. Over the past week, Tang has created two large distractions for the Wildcats. First, he had a pair of contentious conversations with Iowa State coach TJ Otzelberger when he grew concerned that Iowa State was spying on his team’s timeout huddles at Hilton Coliseum. Next, he blasted Big 12 official Gary Maxwell for his behavior during a game at Houston and later had to apologize for those comments.