K-State basketball to play Texas A&M at Sprint Center on Dec. 20

Kansas State’s basketball team will play Texas A&M on Dec. 20 at the Sprint Center as part of a two-game series between the teams.

The Wildcats will return to Kansas City after a one-year hiatus. K-State played a regular-season game at Sprint Center for six straight seasons from 2007-12, beating Florida, Alabama, IUPUI, Southern Mississippi and Florida A&M. Its lone loss was against UNLV.

The second game in the series will be played at Reed Arena on Texas A&M’s campus in Dec. 2015.

“It is our goal every year to play a non-conference game in Kansas City at the Sprint Center,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said in a release. “It is a terrific, world-class venue that provides an NCAA Tournament-type atmosphere for our players and this game will provide a great warmup for the … Big 12 Championship later in the year. Obviously, we have a tremendous fan base in Kansas City and it is always great to see the building packed with purple.”

A neutral-site game against Texas A&M adds another intriguing opponent to K-State’s 2014-15 schedule. The Aggies went 18-16 last year with an 8-10 mark in the SEC. They played in the CBI, losing in the second round at Illinois State. It will also renew an old Big 12 rivalry. K-State leads the series 17-7.

Other known games on K-State’s upcoming schedule include road trips to Long Beach State and Tennessee, and a home game against Georgia on Dec. 31. It will also play in the Maui Invitational on Thanksgiving week. Arizona, BYU, Missouri, Pittsburgh, San Diego State, Purdue and Chaminade join K-State in that tournament.

This story was originally published May 15, 2014 at 1:33 PM with the headline "K-State basketball to play Texas A&M at Sprint Center on Dec. 20."