K-State Wildcats vs. Colorado Buffaloes: Basketball lineups, time, TV and prediction
The details
When/where: 7:35 p.m. Friday at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kansas.
TV/radio: ESPNU; KKGQ (92.3 FM) in Wichita, KCSP (610 AM) in Kansas City.
Projected lineups
P | No. | Colorado | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
C | 13 | Dallas Walton | 7-0 | Sr. | 8.0 |
F | 21 | Evan Battey | 6-8 | Jr. | 7.0 |
G | 3 | Maddox Daniels | 6-6 | Sr. | 9.0 |
G | 24 | Eli Parquet | 6-3 | Jr. | 8.0 |
G | 25 | McKinley Wright IV | 6-0 | Sr. | 20.0 |
P | No. | Kansas State | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 1 | Kaosi Ezeagu | 6-10 | So. | 9.0 |
F | 23 | Montavious Murphy | 6-9 | So. | 0.0 |
G | 00 | Mike McGuirl | 6-2 | Sr. | 22.0 |
G | 3 | DaJuan Gordon | 6-4 | So. | 15.0 |
G | 24 | Nijel Pack | 6-0 | Fr. | 9.0 |
About Colorado (1-0, 0-0 Pac-12): The Buffaloes cruised to an 84-61 victory over South Dakota in their first game of the season on Wednesday at the Little Apple Classic. Colorado led 45-31 at halftime and never looked back thanks to 20 points from McKinley Wright and three other players reaching double figures. Wright is one of the nation’s top point guards and makes this team go for coach Tad Boyle. The Buffaloes were picked to finish seventh in the preseason Pac-12 poll.
About Kansas State (0-1, 0-0 Big 12): The Wildcats got off to a disappointing start to the season when it lost to Drake 80-70 earlier this week. K-State must now try to salvage something out of the Little Apple Classic against Colorado, a game in which coach Bruce Weber said “we’re the underdogs.” Indeed, the Buffaloes are favored by six. Mike McGuirl had a strong debut to the season with 22 points against Drake, and K-State’s offensive production was somewhat encouraging overall in that game. But its defense was almost non existent as the Bulldogs scored 42 points in the paint and hit seven three-pointers.
Prediction: K-State was favored by six points against Drake and lost that game by 10. Now, the Wildcats are six-point underdogs against Colorado, which doesn’t bode well for their chances in the final game of the Little Apple Classic on Friday at Bramlage Coliseum.
The Wildcats will need to play much better on defense against the Buffaloes than they did against Drake in order to have a chance in this one. Colorado has a talented and experienced point guard who knows how to distribute to his teammates and score on his own.
Defending him will be a difficult task for K-State’s young roster.
This will be one of K-State’s most difficult nonconference games of the season. All signs point to a Colorado victory.
Colorado 75, Kansas State 67.
This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 8:44 AM with the headline "K-State Wildcats vs. Colorado Buffaloes: Basketball lineups, time, TV and prediction."