Tate Sage (Iowa Hawkeyes) - College Basketball Series | Ep. 4

You know, before every single game, we kind of talk about Coach McCollum gave a story about David and Goliath,

how he related us to David and the Big 10 is like Goliath.

A lot of things can get on my mind like school, basketball, travel, whatever it may be, but

if I'm ever having trouble just to lean back and know that he has a plan for me.

I think Redeemer, I think, Comforter, just somebody to run to that you're forgiven,

and all of our debts have been paid and for me, it is just the ultimate, the ultimate Comforter.

Welcome to another episode of The Walk Podcast. Today I'm pleased to be joined by

Tate Sage of the Iowa Hawkeyes. Welcome to the show Tate.

Thanks man, thanks for having me.

Yeah, so Tate, you grew up in Weatherford, Oklahoma. What was that like?

You know, it was not a humongous town growing up, so everybody kind of knew everybody,

but it was great. I loved it. We were kind of an hour outside of OKC, so I wasn't too far

from the big city, but I was far enough away to kind of live that kind of life. But

no, I was blessed growing up, great family, great siblings, grew up in the church,

going every Sunday, my older sister played college basketball, and she was a really big influence,

influence in my life. She took me to youth group every Wednesday night, every Sunday night,

whatever we had it, but just watch her walk through that and being able to play college basketball,

really is like a humongous influence on the reason why I like who I am today.

And where does your sister play? Well, she played at University of Arkansas.

Okay. She transferred to Old Roberts in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and then well, she's not playing no more,

so when you were younger, were you able to get to some of her college games?

Of very few, because I mean, I was playing basketball myself, so

when she would have a weekend game or something, we would hop in the car and road trip and make a game,

so. Yeah. So you grew up in the church. What was your earliest memory of your relationship with God?

I feel like it was just waking up every single Sunday, and growing up, it was kind of like your

parents forced you to go, but as I go older, I kind of realized like, hey, like, I kind of like

want to go to church. If like if you missed church on Sunday, it kind of feels a little weird,

it feels wrong. So kind of wanting to go for myself, and then I remember eighth grade, I went to a

church camp, and it was kind of one of those things where I, I repented and totally was like,

I want to make this my walk. I want to not, not because my parents want me to go, I want to go

to church, and I started really pursuing Christ. Was there a moment of that church camp that led to

that decision? I honestly, if I can remember, I believe it was a worship. At the end of the service,

we were just worshiping, and they had this little, they had the part where, hey, come to the

altar, we have all these, it was like a humongous church camp. So we had all these like people that

would, that would talk to you and help you, and I'm like, you just really feel, feel something,

talking to my heart, and so I started to walk down the aisle, and it changed my life.

So what has changed from that sense that moment? I would say like seeking, seeking the Lord,

really diving into the Word, and I feel like you can kind of feel yourself getting distant.

I would say consistency is one of the things I'm really, really trying to work on. I feel like

I'm getting better over time, but you know, getting into college is kind of, I know you talked

about it with Cam, but having to pursue that on your own, and choosing to dive into the Word,

choose to go to church and choose the, stay in the Word, and it's just, it's so awesome.

Now that you're at Iowa, what is it like to be a Christian on the Iowa basketball team?

It's awesome, man. It's awesome to be an influence, because people like Cam and people like

been it don't realize how big of an influence they have on me. You know, when he shoots me a text,

hey, you only got a church at this time, it's awesome, and it really means a lot to be able to,

you know, have brothers in Christ around me, and then trying to pull our teammates into.

For someone listening to this podcast that might not know who Christ is, who is Christ to you?

To me, the word that comes to mind is with Deemer. I think Redeemer, I think,

Comforter, just somebody to run to that you're forgiven, and all of our debts have been paid,

and for me, it is just the ultimate, the ultimate comforter.

And could you share this kind of a deeper question, but could you share the story of what's on

your sweatshirt? Yeah, so it's actually just a cross with the, with the thorned crown around it.

So obviously, when he was hanging on the cross, they put this on his head, and so I just kind of

wear it to remind me, but also kind of elsewhere spread the word of like, hey, he did this. He

died for our sins. We can't do anything. He paid all of the debts for us. So I just love wearing

wearing stuff like that. So I know Cam wear stuff like that too, but we really just like wearing

stuff like this to be able to just spread the word a little bit. Yeah, that's great. Has that led

to any conversations with people you've run into? Very few, and I would say they're very short

conversations, like it would be, hey, I like your hoodie. Thanks, but I haven't had the real

opportunity to dive into, dive into conversation with somebody. And sometimes it could just be a seed

planted, you know, someone sees it, and by touch them. With diving into the word, what has God been

teaching you lately? I would just say that he is a plan. I feel like me personally, a lot of

things that can get on my mind like school, basketball, travel, whatever it may be, but

if I'm ever having trouble just to lean back and know that he has a plan for me, he's like,

I forgot what the verse is. I can't recite it, but the one where he's the lamp to my feet.

I know that I'm walking in his path, and wherever this goes, he's got me. What gives you that

confidence? I would just say the confidence that it gives me from reading the reading the word,

like there's just a different level of like comfortability and confidence when you read the word,

and you really dive in and you're like, wow, like it just really just hits. So just knowing that

I can fall back on that. Yeah. For someone who's never read the Bible, where would you suggest that

they start? So my favorite book is probably Romans. I like Romans. I like Proverbs, but for me, it was

really hard for me to just open my book and start reading. I would suggest not to just start,

like just open your book and start from the very start in Genesis, but for me, I had to get a

devotional. So it would tell me just a few verses at a time, and I would read a verse out of Matthew,

and then they would give me a passage and just kind of break it down. So I'm getting a devotional,

and then also getting a, in a D group, which I call a devotional group. That was kind of something

that helped me accountable, make sure I was doing my readings, and just having something that would

just keep me in check. How difficult is it to make that time spent with the Lord a priority,

like during the midst of the season, like right now? Yeah, it's, it's a lot, especially, I mean,

me and Cameron talking about this maybe two days ago, yesterday in the locker room is,

you know, reading the word is probably one of the most important things, and I'm not going to

sit up here and say I read the word every single night, because I don't, and I'm definitely,

that's one of the areas I'm trying to grow. So for me, it was like, I like to read mine before I

go to bed. So, but there is some nights where, you know, you just get home and you're tired,

and you go to bed. So just making it a priority, like, hey, I got to read the night. And then for

me, I leave my books open on my, on my dresser. So when I walk by, it's kind of like, hey, like,

it's open. I can dive into it. So that's something that helps me. Yeah, that's cool. That's it.

I've never heard of that actually, but I can see why that would be motivating. It's a little guilty,

if you walk by, I might, I might try that. Yeah, you might have to. It works.

In your life, has there been anyone in your family or in your community that's played a big role

in your faith journey? Like I said earlier, my sister growing up in like, because I was just

wanting to hang out with her. Thought she was funny. Thought she, you know, she's going to play

division one basketball. So my sister just fallen her footsteps and also my brother,

my identical twin brother. So when I would see him walk past his room, see him reading his Bible,

it would motivate me like, hey, I want to read my Bible too. And when he was also my devotional

group. And so when I would like occasionally, I wouldn't do the reading and he would do the reading

on my, hey, I need to be better. And also just, I feel like my family and my surroundings,

my friends did a great job of it. And my family did a great job of it. So really, whoever I

surrounded myself with, it kind of felt like kept me accountable. Yeah, it's such a blessing to

like grow up with that and to be surrounded by it. Because not everyone has that foundation.

As a twin, I'm actually a triplet. So I can know it. And it's funny to tell the story of your

brother because I was the same way with my brother. He was, he's read the whole Bible multiple times.

And growing up, I was always just kind of looking at him like, I should do that too, but I'm not.

So I can relate to that. But what was it like having a twin brother that he played basketball as

well? He did. Yeah, we were, I mean, we were in and hand in everything. I mean, we were in the same

friend group. We went to the same everything. We were in the same car. We had a lot of classes

together. I seen you here. So it was really, you know, walking around, we were known as the Sage

twins. Like the twins are always together. Always doing this. So and also feel like it's a big

reason why I'm here during the recruiting process. I kind of wanted to be my own person a little bit.

And so did he. And so no, we split our ways and he's doing great things now. And so I'm happy for him.

That's great. Did you feel like it was challenging at first, kind of going through that, like coming to

school on your own and being apart from him. Was that challenging at first? Very, yeah, a little bit.

Because there's be times where you go home and it's, you think your brother's there, your family's

there, but it's not. And I feel like that's also part of being a freshman is settling any of those

things. But like I said, it was kind of what I wanted. Going in the recruiting process, choosing my

school, kind of to live my own life a little bit and go see the world for myself. And so, yeah.

What was the light going through the recruiting process? And why did you, why did you choose Iowa?

I would say because of Coach McCollum and Coach Bryson Williams, the relationships that I make,

you can tell they're genuine and they're real people and they actually want what's best for you.

And then I also felt like it was the best fit for me. I feel like this would be where I feel the

most comfortable and where I fit in the most and I feel like I'd be the most happy here.

How has your experience been at Iowa compared to your expectations going in?

It's actually exceeded it. I didn't know. I didn't have a whole lot of expectations. I really

didn't know what to expect. But I feel like I really settled in and kind of found my purpose and

found my people. So it's been going great. That's awesome. Do you feel that your faith has shaped

the way that you look at basketball? Absolutely. You know, before, right before and after every

single game, we pray as a team. And I've done that since high school and we do it now. And it's

it's just so it's something I look forward to honestly and it's awesome. And the other day after

we lost our game and walking back to the hallway and I'm next to Bennett and I couldn't help but think

like just remember why we play. Remember why we're here. You know, it sucks in the moment when

we lost we just lost the game. We're upset. We're angry. But just remembering why we play. And then

Jim from athletes in action, he said when he was shooting free throws, he would have a cross on

his toe. So when he dribbled down, he would look and that's why we play just remembering why we play.

Yeah, that's it's really important. It can be easy to get distracted by the outside noise,

but that's pretty cool. The idea of the cross, the free throws. And then

going into this season, what were the team goals for Iowa?

I think everybody just wanted to win. I didn't really know we could we could be capable of.

Obviously, I knew we were going to be good and we were going to win and I thought we were going

to be able to win and compete. But I don't think we had any like goals set. I think it was just,

hey, we're here. We're going to be able to compete and we're trying to win.

So it was more of like a one day at a time. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Cool. And then throughout the season, and you guys have had a great season, of course.

But it seems like against the like the higher ranked teams, you guys are right there,

but haven't quite gotten over the hump. What do you feel it's going to take to be able to do that?

Like you said, it's just like just feels like we can't get over the hump. But you know, we

we like being the underdogs and I feel like we've been known as the underdogs because we have all

these great guys and a D2 guy and I don't know, I feel like sticking together and really working

as one. If we can get over the hump, it will be it'll be really awesome. And you know, before

every single game, we kind of talk about coach McCallum gave a story about David and Goliath,

how he related us to David and the big 10 is like Goliath every single night. You get a big opponent,

you get Goliath. So just looking at it as that, like how blessed we are to have the opportunity

to play these bigger teams and these good teams on this biggest stage.

Yeah, it's certainly a great league, probably one of the best this year.

And then just a couple of fun questions. What's your favorite spot to eat in Iowa City?

Oh, I feel like it's a tie between Stella or Grace. Grace is these chicken lips. It's like a big

buffalo tinder. It's awesome. And then what are some things that you like to do outside of basketball?

I like to watch basketball. I talked to my friends a lot. And occasionally I go through video game

stages. I'll play the game for a little bit and then I'll kind of take the break. But I also like

to grill a little bit in the summer when it's nice outside and me and all the guys get together and

we'll grill around the pool and just hang out. So just been in time with some of my favorite people.

Yeah, that's cool. What do you like to grill?

Oh, we did. We did just about everything. We did burgers hot dogs, steak, chicken, wings. We

kind of do it all. You got for hungry now. Last question for you. If someone is in college and they're

listening to this podcast, they don't know where to start. How would you suggest they start

in their walk with the Lord? I would say take subtle steps day by day, try to stack days. Start by

just going to church. I feel like showing up is a very big part of the walk and just showing

them consistently. And then start diving into the word. I know it's hard because it was hard for me

and I'm sure it was hard for other people to when you at first start reading, it is hard to

get back into it and read again and read again and read again. So I would just say just stack days,

every single day, try to read the Bible or try to go to church or try to pray or anything along

those lines. Just try to take baby steps and start building your relationship. Yeah, that's great

advice. You did mention that Proverbs and Romans are two of your favorite books in the Bible.

Is there a specific verse that stands out to you?

I'm not going to be able to recite one from those, but I can tell you my wallpaper is Jeremiah 21

or 2911. It talks about how he is a plan for us and it's not to harm us, but to prosper us for

hoping the future. So just something that I look at every single time I open up my phone kind of

gives me hope and and a sense of comfort. Yeah, it's a great reminder every time you open your

phone. All right, well, thanks so much for joining us and best of luck the rest of the season.

Thank you, man. Thanks for having me.