With Kansas’ 70-54 triumph over Kansas State in the Big 12 tournament title game on Saturday at the Sprint Center, the Jayhawks swept all three games against the Wildcats this season. But that only scratches the surface of this domination. The outcome also means KU has won 47 of the previous 50 men’s basketball meetings against Kansas State, and 11 straight in conference tournament games.
If all goes according to plan, the Wildcats will also be back at the Sprint Center next season for a nonconference game. They are still working on a date and an opponent, but K-State athletic director John Currie said Saturday morning that the Wildcats intend on continuing their annual nonconference trip to Sprint Center for a neutral-court game next season.
K-State beat Oklahoma State 68-57 on Friday in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament at Sprint Center to advance to its first title game since its loss to Kansas in 2010. Rodney McGruder was the main reason why. On a night when neither team’s offense flowed the way it did during their regular-season meetings, McGruder couldn’t be stopped. The senior wing, playing like a man on a mission, scored a game-high 25 points.
K-State was at its best when it pushed the ball against Oklahoma State. The Wildcats surged ahead for the first time in the first half on a quick 12-2 run that featured quick passes and aggressive shots early into possessions.
Kansas State beat Texas 66-49 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament, advancing to the semifinals for the first time since 2010. The Wildcats will play Oklahoma State at 9 p.m. Friday.
When D.J. Johnson entered the game in the second half, he knew he was in for extending playing time. Johnson, a K-State freshman forward, has playing sparingly all season, but he became the team’s top inside option with Jordan Henriquez fighting an injury and Thomas Gipson in foul trouble.
WHEN/WHERE: 9 p.m. Friday at the Sprint Center
K-State sophomore forward Thomas Gipson looked so much bigger and older than everyone else in high school that his mother had to bring his birth certificate to games. He overpowered high school competition, but has added other elements to his game in college, averaging 10.7 points and 4.9 rebounds over his last 12 games.
When Bruce Weber reached the national championship game in 2005 with Illinois, they called it a bus trip. The Final Four was played in St. Louis, a 180-mile trip from the Illini’s campus in Champaign. Before that, they won two games in Chicago and two games in Indianapolis. All bus travel, all massive fan support.
Bruce Weber is a 56-year-old son of an Austrian immigrant going on four decades of grinding and sweating in college basketball coaching. He doesn’t need to explain himself. But he does have more to prove, even if he's already produced a conference champion at Kansas State.
WHEN/WHERE: 6 p.m. Thursday at the Sprint Center
Former Kansas State coach knows there is work to be done, particularly after the Gamecocks finished the regular season with a 14-17 record.
The Wildcats are shooting for a Big 12 Tournament title to go with their regular-season crown. The Star's Kellis Robinett answered questions during a web chat earlier today.
K-State basketball coach Bruce Weber was blown away as he stared out at the thousands of fans that came to Bramlage Coliseum on Monday for the Wildcats’ Big 12 championship celebration. Beforehand, he wondered whether anyone would come.
The game Bruce Weber’s Kansas State Wildcats refused to care about is the reason they will hang a new banner at Bramlage Coliseum. And it’s the reason this is not only the most successful sports year in school history, but in the new Big 12. K-State is king. This is the new league order.
The Big 12 men’s basketball tournament starts Wednesday at the Sprint Center. For a printable bracket, click here.
Kansas State will hold a public celebration in honor of the Wildcats' Big 12 co-championship at 6 p.m. Monday at Bramlage Coliseum.
No. 9 Kansas State let a second-half lead slip away at No. 13 Oklahoma State and lost 76-70 on Saturday, but then KU lost at Baylor later in the day, giving the Wildcats a share of the Big 12 championship — their first regular-season conference title since 1977. The Wildcats are the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 Tournament and will play either Texas or TCU in the quarterfinals Thursday at the Sprint Center.
Facing the nation’s best team and most formidable player, the Kansas State women were thrashed from the opening tipoff, reduced mostly to watching in awe as No. 1 Baylor rolled to an 80-47 victory in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
In the 2011-12 fiscal year, Missouri’s athletic department lost $16.2 million, mostly because of $13 million in Big 12 revenue withheld as a penalty for leaving for the SEC. Kansas reported an $8.7 million loss, mostly because of severance payments to fired football coach Turner Gill. Meanwhile in Manhattan, Kansas State’s bottom line was $12.3 million in the black.
Five-year financial snapshots, including detailed revenues and expenses, for the Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri athletic departments.
Key play: Rodney McGruder made a three-pointer that stopped a 7-0 run by Oklahoma State.
Thirty-six years ago, behind leading scorer Mike Evans, Curtis Redding, Larry Dassie and Darryl Winston, the Kansas State Wildcats won their last regular-season conference title, wrapping up the Big Eight with an 11-3 record. Saturday in Stillwater, Okla., a new generation of Wildcats can end that drought by beating Oklahoma State and clinching at least a share of the Big 12 crown.
Using only six players, three of whom played at least 37 minutes, the Kansas State women beat Texas 51-49 on Brittany Chambers’ layup at the buzzer Friday night in Dallas. The Wildcats advanced to the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals against top-seeded Baylor at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
As the league title and the player-of-the-year award both go down to the wire, Kansas' Jeff Withey and Ben McLemore, Kansas State's Rodney McGruder and Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart are seen as front-runners in the latter category. And KU's Bill Self says he'd vote for the Wildcats' Bruce Weber for coach of the year.
WHEN/WHERE: 12:45 p.m. Saturday at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla.
Kansas State senior guard Brittany Chambers and Kansas senior point guard Angel Goodrich received first-team all-Big 12 women’s basketball honors on Thursday, a day before both teams open the conference tournament in Dallas.
The current No. 1 team in college basketball will play Kansas State at Wichita’s Intrust Bank Arena next season.
It wasn’t the Senior Night stroll most were expecting, but Kansas State’s 79-68 win over last-place Texas Christian, which featured some tense moments in the second half, was enough to send the No. 9 Wildcats into the final game of the regular season with everything on the line.
