Kansas State will host new, intriguing opponent in Big 12/SEC basketball challenge
A potentially entertaining home game has been added to Kansas State’s upcoming basketball schedule.
The Wildcats will host the Florida Gators on Jan. 28 next year at Bramlage Coliseum in a matchup that will be part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
Florida is an intriguing opponent that could bring some fan excitement to Manhattan during Jerome Tang’s first season as coach. In the previous nine years of the conference challenge, K-State has rotated between Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee (twice), Texas A&M (twice) and Mississippi (thrice).
A new SEC foe feels like a welcome change.
ESPN will broadcast the game on one of its networks. Game times and TV information will be announced at a later time.
K-State hasn’t played Florida since Bruce Weber and Billy Donovan were roaming the sidelines in 2012 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. The Wildcats won that game 67-61, but the Gators prevailed 57-44 when they played two years earlier in the Sunshine State.
This will be their third meeting all-time.
Florida is coming off a 20-win season in which the Gators advanced to the second round of the NIT. But they experienced a coaching change shortly afterward. Todd Golden is in his first year on the job.
K-State won 14 games last season and then parted ways with Weber. Tang was hired as his replacement in March.
Adding Florida to the schedule brings K-State one game closer to finalizing its slate for the 2022-23 season.
The Wildcats will also host Wichita State on Dec. 3, take on Nebraska on Dec. 17 at T-Mobile and face Butler on the road as part of the Big East/Big 12 conference challenge on Nov. 30.
Other known games on K-State’s upcoming schedule include home games against Texas-Rio Grande, Abilene Christian, Incarnate Word and Radford. Tang will also take the Wildcats to the Cayman Islands Classic for a three-game tournament that includes Akron, Illinois State, LSU, Nevada, Rhode Island, Tulane and Western Kentucky
Big 12/SEC Challenge Matchups
Florida at K-State
Alabama at Oklahoma
Arkansas at Baylor
Auburn at West Virginia
Iowa State at Missouri
Kansas at Kentucky
Ole Miss at Oklahoma State
TCU at Mississippi State
Texas at Tennessee
Texas Tech at LSU
This story was originally published June 16, 2022 at 12:44 PM with the headline "Kansas State will host new, intriguing opponent in Big 12/SEC basketball challenge."