A catastrophic season for Kansas State has only worsened with its latest off-court incident.
Graduate student manager Mark Vital Jr. was arrested Monday morning in Manhattan, KS, on one count of domestic battery, per a Riley County Police arrest report. He met his $2,000 bond and is no longer in custody.
Vital was a three-time All-Big 12 forward for Baylor during Jerome Tang's tenure as assistant coach. They were together when the program won the national championship in 2021. Vital had brief stints with the Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs after switching to professional football. He is in his first season with Kansas State, pursuing his Master’s in counseling and student development.
As for the team, it's going to be a difficult journey as they climb out of their 10-13 hole.
A unit projected to be at least a Tournament contender is now at the bottom of the Big 12. A combination of injuries, ineffective play by the stars, and a lack of cohesion has the Wildcats as arguably the conference's worst team.
"I'm hurting for them right now. I'm frustrated because there are things I feel like I can do better, and I'm gonna figure that out," Tang said in his TCU postgame interview. "Now we just keep going. This is not how we intended, but this is where we are. Life is 10 percent of what happens to you and 90 percent of how you respond. We're gonna respond the right way."
He held PJ Haggerty and Nate Johnson accountable for their sloppy late-game turnovers in the Horned Frogs loss.
"I'm not sure it's just any one thing," Tang said. "Players have to make plays in those situations. You have to get the ball to the right dude and say, 'Go win it,' and we haven't been able to do that."
Hopefully, they can at least use Marcus Johnson's star performance as a semblance of hope for the season's remainder. Johnson scored just five points all season prior to Saturday afternoon, but dropped 15 on 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range against the Horned Frogs.
The former Bowling Green forward has been a non-factor thus far, but performances like yesterday could give the Wildcats a chance to at least put him in the rotation. Johnson averaged 16.2 points and five rebounds last season, but it hasn't translated during his time in the conference this year.
"We've asked him to stay ready," coach Jerome Tang said in his postgame interview. "Opportunities are going to come. Coach [Matthew] Driscoll says all the time, injuries, attrition, and the doghouse, every dude's going to get their opportunity. And Marcus has."