Kansas State Wildcats vs. Baylor Bears: Lineups, time, TV and a prediction
The details
When/where: 8 p.m. Monday at Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, Kansas
TV/radio: ESPN2; KKGQ (92.3 FM) in Wichita, KCSP (610 AM) in Kansas City.
Projected lineups
P | No. | Baylor | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 33 | Freddie Gillespie | 6-9 | Sr. | 10.1 |
G | 45 | Davion Mitchell | 6-2 | So. | 9.8 |
G | 11 | Mark Vital | 6-5 | Jr. | 5.9 |
G | 31 | Macio Teague | 6-3 | Jr. | 14.1 |
G | 12 | Jared Butler | 6-3 | So. | 15.1 |
P | No. | Kansas State | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 14 | Makol Mawien | 6-9 | Sr. | 7.2 |
F | 23 | Montavious Murphy | 6-9 | Fr. | 5.1 |
G | 20 | Xavier Sneed | 6-5 | Sr. | 14.4 |
G | 3 | DaJuan Gordon | 6-4 | Fr. | 6.8 |
G | 4 | David Sloan | 6-0 | Jr. | 5.2 |
About Baylor (19-1, 8-0 Big 12): The Bears have won 18 straight games to climb to the top of the college basketball polls. Their last three victories have all come by double digits against TCU, Florida and Iowa State. Baylor has already defeated Kansas and Texas Tech on the road in Big 12 play. The Bears have a balanced roster under Scott Drew this season. Jared Butler has come back from injury to lead the team with 15.1 points per game, but everyone in the starting lineup is capable of scoring in bunches. Baylor plays four guards around forward Freddie Gillespie. It is mixing in some man defense along with its traditional zone some this season.
About Kansas State (9-12, 2-6): The Wildcats are coming off a 66-57 road loss at West Virginia, but they have been tough at home lately. K-State has won back-to-back games at Bramlage Coliseum against West Virginia and Oklahoma. Bruce Weber said on Saturday that he is hopeful some “Bramlage magic” will help his team against a talented opponent in this game. Xavier Sneed is struggling to break out of a shooting slump that has seen his numbers dip in three straight games. He went 2 for 13 against West Virginia and missed seven three-pointers. The Wildcats will need multiple players to be at the top of their game against the Bears.
Prediction: Baylor will enter this game as a heavy favorite, but it wouldn’t come as a complete shock if K-State is able to pull off an upset on Monday. The Wildcats have been tough at home lately and tend to have good luck against the Bears. K-State has won six straight games over Baylor and Weber has a 9-6 record against Drew.
Expect Sneed to shoot the ball better than he has in recent games and for K-State to give Baylor all it can handle in this game.
Will that be enough?
The answer to that question won’t come until the final moments of Monday’s game, and those haven’t gone well for the Wildcats many times this season. Zone defense is also not K-State’s friend.
Baylor is the better team and no road environment and no road environment has fazed them this season. Here’s guessing the Bears pull out a close on in Bramlage Coliseum.
Baylor 68, K-State 64
This story was originally published February 3, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Kansas State Wildcats vs. Baylor Bears: Lineups, time, TV and a prediction."