Kansas Jayhawks basketball at K-State: Lineups, tipoff time, TV info and predictions
The details
When/where: 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, Kansas
TV/radio: CBS; WHB (810 AM) and KCSP (610 AM)
Projected starters
P No. Kansas Ht. Yr. PPG
F 35 Udoka Azubuike 7-0 Sr. 13.4
G 4 Isaiah Moss 6-5 Sr. 8.2
G 30 Ochai Agbaji 6-5 So. 10.1
G 0 Marcus Garrett 6-5 Jr. 9.4
G 1 Devon Dotson 6-2 So. 17.9
P No. Kansas State Ht. Yr. PPG
F 14 Makol Mawien 6-9 Sr. 7.5
F 20 Xavier Sneed 6-5 Sr. 14.0
F 11 Antonio Gordon 6-9 Fr. 4.6
G 0 Mike McGuirl 6-2 Jr. 6.5
G 2 Cartier Diarra 6-4 Jr. 13.1
ABOUT NO. 1 KANSAS (25-3, 14-1 Big 12): KU has an all-time record of 2,299-862 in 122 seasons entering Saturday’s game. The Jayhawks are attempting to become the second school in NCAA basketball with 2,300 wins. Kentucky is first in all-time wins with 2,318 against 711 losses. … KU has won 25 or more games for 15 straight seasons which is an NCAA record. … Bill Self is 498-109 in 17 seasons at KU. If KU defeats KSU, Self could claim win No. 500 at KU against TCU in a Senior Night clash on Wednesday in Allen Fieldhouse. Overall Self is 705-214 in 27 seasons (at KU, Illinois, Tulsa, Oral Roberts). … KU leads the all-time series against Kansas State, 198-94. … The Jayhawks defeated K-State, 81-60, on Jan. 21 in Allen Fieldhouse. … KU is 26-5 in Bramlage Coliseum. … The Jayhawks fell to K-State 74-67, last season in Bramlage. However, KU has won three of the last four in Bramlage. Prior to that stretch, K-State had won two in a row at home over KU. … KU has played at K-State three times as the country’s No. 1 team and is 2-1 in those meetings, winning 71-65 on Jan. 18, 1993; winning 62-59 on Jan. 4, 1997 and losing 84-68 on Feb. 14, 2011. K-State was unranked in all three meetings. ... KU has won 13 consecutive games including 12 in a row in league play. KU’s 12-game Big 12 winning streak is the most by a Kansas team since the 2009-10 Jayhawks won 13-straight. … Udoka Azubuike has 35 rebounds in the last two games, most boards in consecutive games by a Jayhawk since Thomas Robinson had 35 against North Dakota and Kansas State during the 2011-12 season.
ABOUT KANSAS STATE (9-19, 2-13 Big 12): Eighth-year K-State coach Bruce Weber is 3-16 versus KU. … The Wildcats, who lost to Baylor, 85-66, on Tuesday in Waco, Texas, have dropped eight straight games and 10 of 11. Last victory was 61-53 over Oklahoma on Jan. 29 in Bramlage Coliseum. It is Kansas State’s longest losing streak since 2000. … This marks the first time the Wildcats have played two different No. 1-ranked teams in the same season. K-State lost to then-No. 1 Baylor, 73-67, on Feb. 3 in Manhattan. … Weber has directed K-State to three wins over AP top-5 teams in his eight seasons, including a win over No. 1 Oklahoma in 2016; also over No. 2 Baylor in 2017 and No. 4 Oklahoma in 2018. … K-State has held 95 opponents to 60 points or less in Weber’s tenure, boasting an 86-9 mark in those games. … Senior Xavier Sneed has led the Wildcats in scoring 12 times this season. He has scored in double figures in a team-best 21 games (including four 20-point games). He has double-digit points in 14 of the last 18 games. … Cartier Diarra (19 points Tuesday vs. Baylor) has scored 20 or more points five times this season. He had 24 points at Iowa State. Diarra has scored in double figures 17 times in the last 24 games. He has led the team in assists in 19 games. ... Three freshmen (DaJuan Gordon, Antonio Gordon and Montavious Murphy) are each averaging 18 or more minutes.
Predictions
Kellis Robinett: Some like to say you can throw out the records when rivals meet on the basketball court, but this seems like too big of a mismatch for K-State to overcome. The Jayhawks have won 13 straight games and own the nation’s No. 1 ranking. The Wildcats have lost eight straight games and are all alone in last place of the Big 12 standings.
Kansas will enter this game as a heavy favorite, and it will take a Herculean effort from K-State to pull off an upset.
Its best hope is for Xavier Sneed and Cartier Diarra to both have special games, while Mike McGuirl gets hot from the outside. But scoring probably won’t come easy for the Wildcats against an elite defensive opponent like KU, especially with Montavious Murphy questionable to play.
The Wildcats would love to hurt the Jayhawks’ Big 12 championship hopes, so they will likely play with good energy. But they will need more than to beat the Jayhawks.
Kansas 69, K-State 55
Jesse Newell: Obviously, KU has the advantage in nearly every area, but that comes with a caveat. K-State’s greatest strength — getting steals — has the potential to neutralize many of the advantages that the Jayhawks have.
For example, the Wildcats have had the conference’s worst-two-point defense in league play, which would seem to not match up well going up against KU’s Devon Dotson and Udoka Azubuike. However, if K-State can pressure out and make KU uncomfortable running its offense — while also getting steals in the process — there’s a path there to not only defensive success but also some easy buckets in transition.
We all know the crowd will be crazy, especially following the brawl at the end of the last matchup at Allen Fieldhouse.
I think that energy will be beneficial for K-State. It should promote defensive aggressiveness while also making it difficult for the officials, who likely will allow the two teams to play with some physicality on the perimeter.
I still like KU to win. But give me the Cats to cover in a game I think they’ll keep close with their defense.
Kansas 68, Kansas State 60
