• WHEN/WHERE: 3 p.m. Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan.

•  TV/RADIO: KSHB (Ch. 41); WHB (810 AM)

•  ABOUT OKLAHOMA (12-5, 3-0 Big 12): The Sooners are contending for a trip to the NCAA Tournament in Lon Kruger’s second year. … Oklahoma has shown significant improvement from last season behind Steven Pledger and Romero Osby. … If not for a shocking loss to Stephen F. Austin last month, Oklahoma might be ranked. The Sooners have won five straight since, and are off to a 3-0 start in the Big 12. … Kruger led Oklahoma to two wins over K-State last year, despite entering both games as the underdog. He is pleased with the way his team is playing. “We like where we are at,” Kruger said. “It’s very early, but our guys understand we have to make a lot of progress. Their attitude about it is very good.”

•  ABOUT KANSAS STATE (14-2, 3-0 Big 12): This is a big game for both teams. If K-State wins, it will be 4-0 in Big 12 games with league-favorite Kansas coming to Bramlage Coliseum next. If Oklahoma wins, it will stay on top of the conference standings and may break into the Top 25. … But that’s not the only thing that motivates the Wildcats. They are still thinking about losing twice to Oklahoma last season. “It’s almost personal for us with them beating us twice last year,” Will Spradling said. “One of those, we got smacked. Then they came in here and beat us … We remember those for sure.” … Lon Kruger vs. Bruce Weber should be an interesting coaching matchup. They both used to coach at Illinois and Kruger played and coached at K-State. … Jordan Henriquez has played well since conference play began, and Thomas Gipson is coming off a down effort against TCU. Chances are good Bruce Weber will shake up the starting lineup and give Henriquez the start.