Why three mid-major transfers came to the high major level, K-State
Desi Sills is a man of faith, but he admits that God can occasionally work in "mysterious ways." The senior guard was playing at one of the highest levels of college basketball for one of the sport's rising coaching stars -- Eric Musselman -- while playing at Arkansas in 2019-20. But then the path changed for Sills.
Bebe Iyiola was a teammate of Sills at Arkansas in 2019-20 before joining him again at Kansas State for their final year of eligibility in 2022-23. Iyiola didn't play a single game with Sills in their time together at Arkansas because of now antiquated transfer legislation. Iyiola spent the following season at Arkansas, but a knee injury kept him sidelined for nearly the entirety of the season.
"The first time I tried to transfer I got hurt," Iyiola said of his time at Arkansas. "I don’t get a chance to prove, show what I can do. So it’s a lot for me to come here. It’s like a dream come true."
Both Sills and Iyiola moved to lower levels of college basketball. Sills remained in his home state, transferring to Arkansas State. Iyiola landed at Hofstra, his second time playing college basketball below the high major level after starting his career at Stetson in 2017.
Tykei Greene wasn't able to enjoy the luxury of playing at the high major level like Sills and Iyiola did during their time in the SEC. But Greene, who started his career at Manhattan in 2018, enjoyed supreme levels of success playing at Stony Brook in the 2021-22 season.
Then, in 2022-23 the three players united together at a place a long way away from home and a place that would soon become one of the biggest stories of the 2022-23 college basketball season when they transferred to play for first-year Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang.
On Wednesday night, all three players will participate in their final home game as college players when Kansas State hosts Oklahoma at Bramlage Coliseum. Across the entirety of the season, the three players have had various levels of impact on a Kansas State team that went from being picked to finish in last place in the Big 12 before the season started to a likely No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, according to many projections.
SIlls has had the most impactful on the court impact of the three players this season for Kansas State. He's spent most of the season coming off of the bench as Kansas State's sixth man. But he's started the last three games for Kansas State and the Wildcats are 3-0 in games Sills starts, and his insertion into the lineup seems to have helped Kansas State end a streak of games where they lost four of five contests.
"I'm just going to bring energy, effort and enthusiasm every night," Sills said of his role this season with the Wildcats. " Whatever I can get to make the winning players -- whatever I can do -- I can do it."
Iyiola was trusted into the starting lineup for nine games in the middle of the season because of a foot/ankle injury that David N'Guessan sustained late in Kansas State's nonconference slate. But he's also had contests where he's played just a couple of minutes or not played at all this season, which is similar to Greene, whose athleticism is a nice tool off of the bench for rebounding purposes.
The trio who -- at times -- has limited impact on the court, has still found ways to impact winning in an overall sense. In recent games, Iyiola has provided K-Stat with quality energy off of the bench and good effort. It's the same Iyiola that his teammates see routinely.
"Bebe is a big part of us," Greene said. "He brings that toughness for us. He's everything to us as a team. Even though bad nights, he's still going to do what he's got to do. even in practice, he's talking to us and giving us energy to move onto the next game."
"My number one goal is to come here and win, my goal is to win the Big 12," Iyiola said of his goals at Kansas State, which is still attainable but Kansas State would need losses from other schools in the league. "But more importantly, I want to go compete because the first time I got a chance to go to the NCAA Tournament, I think I tore my ACL.
"So I got a chance to experience it, but I never got to go on the floor. So to come here, I am doing everything in my power to help my teammates. I just want to do everything in my power to win."
Greene hasn't played as much this season as he likely would have liked to. He's played less than 9.0 minutes per game in Big 12 play this season. But he's okay with what his role on the team is.
"Anything I can do to help the team win," Greene said. "That's all that matters."
Greene made that clear to Tang earlier this season in Big 12 play when he met with the head coach and expressed that he'd be willing to guard the opponent's best players and take assignments that he hadn't been previously taking this season.
"My favorite moment is winning, of course," Greene said. "And being out there with my brothers. My second favorite moment is going around the circle after a win and dipping up all the fans and taking pictures, signing autographs. It's special"
Wednesday's senior night festivities will be the first Tang has experienced as a head coach. He said after Saturday's Wildcat win over Oklahoma State that he doesn't know what his emotions are going to be. But the hugs he has with three transfers who helped him establish everything he wants his program to be about is going to make things memorable for all involved.
"I got crazy faith like Coach Tang says," Sills said. "Crazy faith is unbelievable and my ultimate goal was to come here and try and get to the NCAA Tournament. I knew what coach was bringing in, I knew we had the right pieces and if we are put together, we’re together. From the coaching staff to the players, we’re all combining as one,