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After one basket, Peter Kiss bent down and did a few push-ups. Following another, he stuck his tongue out and held up three fingers. At one point, he did a raise-the-roof motion.
When he sank an off-balanced 3-pointer, he zeroed in on a reporter who had previously tweeted his pick to win the Northeast Conference was Wagner, Bryant’s rival.
“That’s for you, b—h,” the Bryant star, Manhattan native and nation’s leading scorer fumed.
This wasn’t anything new, except it was the biggest game of Kiss’ life, the NEC Tournament title game on ESPN2 against Wagner, and his act was now making national news as Bryant punched its ticket to its first ever NCAA Tournament.
“It’s a blessing and a curse sometimes. Me and him have talked about it endlessly,” Bryant coach Jared Grasso said in a phone interview. “It’s good because it’s what makes him good, but there are times he needs to dial it back.
“I prefer a kid who plays with a passion and emotion and an edge, because if they don’t have it, you can’t give it to them.”
When asked about that edge, Kiss said it is something he needed at a young age when he wasn’t very good at the sport. Finding extra motivation or a perceived slight — making a matchup personal — took his game to another level. He admitted it has created a target on his back, but Kiss won’t change. He thrives as the villain.
“Honestly, I think I have the most fun on the court out of anybody in the country,” said Kiss, the nation’s leading scorer at 25.1 points per game. “I’m just having a blast out there, regardless if it comes off as too much at times. My only goal out there is to win. When you’re doing that and having fun, I don’t know what could be better than that.”
He is a controversial figure in the NEC. Two head coaches from the league declined to comment on the 6-foot-5 Kiss’ antics. The league’s commissioner, Noreen Morris, didn’t want to be interviewed for this story. He was suspended for two games for his conduct after a contentious win over LIU that included 12 technical fouls and four ejections.
An NEC assistant coach, speaking on condition of anonymity, thinks Kiss has crossed the line on several occasions, whether it was his behavior against Wagner and wh at he said to the reporter, Ryan Peters, or his tendency to go too far. He once blew a kiss at FDU coach Greg Herenda after hitting a 3-pointer. The assistant coach has seen him mock opposing players after a turnover or roll the ball to them after they are whistled for a foul.
“Bush league,” is how the coach described it. “From what I’ve seen of him, it’s almost like he goes into this alter ego when he’s playing games.”
His mentor, Derrik Riullano, sees it as Kiss playing with a chip on his shoulder, that he has something to prove. Riullano remembers college coaches dismissing him for years, telling Riullano that Kiss wasn’t a Division I player.
“In a way, it’s ‘I told you so,’ ” Rulliano said. “He wants to prove them wrong.”
Off the court, everyone agreed, Kiss is very different, even that reporter he cursed out. He’s kind, respectful and generous with his time. He’ll talk to kids before and after games, pose for photos and sign autographs. Asked what he’ll remember the most about his time with Kiss, Grasso said the bond his star player has formed with his children.
“The kid’s got an enormous heart,” Grasso said.
For years, Kiss has worked with people with disabilities. It started back home in Manhattan at Safe Haven. This winter, he joined the Unified Dolphins, a Special Olympics team that partners with the Smithfield YMCA in Rhode Island. Instead of using his Friday nights to party, he was helping teach kids, many of them with intellectual disabilities, the game of basketball. They were with him at Bryant on Selection Sunday.
“He made this past season so memorable for everybody, including the coaching staff,” said Rob Hayes, the group’s coach. “He’s like a big brother to everyone on our team.”
Kiss has helped make this a memorable year for Bryant, too. Wednesday, it will play in its first NCAA Tournament against fellow No. 16 seed Wright State in the First Four in Dayton. It all began when last year ended in a frustrating loss in the NEC Tournament final. Determined not to let history repeat itself, Kiss put himself through a draining summer. He stayed on campus the entire time, sometimes working out as much as six times per day. He was, in his words, “obsessed.”
“It was something that ate me alive for many, many, many, many months,” Kiss said. “I knew I had to do something about it.”
He went out and had an unforgettable season. It has been a long and winding journey for Kiss, who attended four different high schools and three different colleges. Following a strong freshman year at Quinnipiac, he transferred to Rutgers, but transferred down to Bryant after redshirting in his third year at the Big Ten school.
He found the right fit at Bryant with Grasso, a father figure who Kiss credits with teaching him vital life lessons. They still have at least one more game together, Wednesday night in Dayton, when the country will get another look at the Peter Kiss Show, antics and all. He isn’t planning to rein it in for the big stage that is the NCAA Tournament. He knows only one way to play.
“I have the most amount of fun playing basketball,” Kiss said, “and I wish other people would have as much fun as I have when playing basketball.”
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