Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang's anger that seemed directed at the crowd during Wednesday's loss to Iowa State was actually due to concerns the Cyclones were trying to steal information from his team's huddle.

Per Kellis Robinett of the Wichita Eagle, Wildcats coaches were worried Iowa State "placed managers and/or other team representatives in spots behind the visiting bench" to potentially view, "or even record," their huddle.

"The sources said K-State's coaches were worried about those observers quickly passing information to the Iowa State bench via text messages," Robinett wrote.

The situation occurred during a television timeout with just under eight minutes remaining in the second half. Tang was pointing at something in the crowd at Hilton Coliseum, which Robinett noted was initially assumed to be related to the behavior of fans.

Tang walked over to Iowa State head coach TJ Otzelberger at midcourt to tell him something.

After the game, the two coaches had a prolonged exchange in the handshake line with Tang appearing to be upset as he was talking to Otzelberger.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Tang downplayed the issue by saying "nothing happened" and they were discussing something that took place during the game which Otzelberger said he would look into.

Chris Williams of Cyclone Fanatic, who was in attendance covering the game, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, he overheard a Kansas State assistant point at some of Iowa State's managers while they were sweeping the floor and appearing to yell "cheating motherf--kers"

Robinett also noted ESPN's cameras caught Tang appearing to tell lead official Gerry Pollard that Iowa State had people "filming our huddle" during one of the final media timeouts.

It's unclear at this point if the Big 12 is going to investigate the situation. Iowa State ultimately won the game, 78-67.