K-State basketball’s travel plans altered by blizzard. Here’s how Wildcats will adjust
For Kansas State, the hardest thing about its next men’s basketball game might be waiting for it to start.
The Wildcats will have spent five days on the road before tipoff arrives against Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. on Tuesday inside Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.
Jerome Tang’s team was not expecting to spend that much time away from home when it departed Manhattan on Friday for its Big 12 road opener against TCU. The plan was for the Wildcats to return home immediately after that game ended on Saturday afternoon via a chartered flight. Instead, the Wildcats lost that game 63-62 in excruciating fashion and then faced uncertain travel plans because of the winter storm that has descended upon the Sunflower State and much of the Midwest.
Tang said he hoped K-State might be able to fly home at some point before the Oklahoma State game, but that didn’t happen either. The Wildcats changed plans and flew to Stillwater on Sunday night, according to a team spokesman. They will remain there until after the game and hope that they can return home late Tuesday night.
It’s impossible to predict how an extended road trip will affect the Wildcats. They have played consecutive road games without returning home before under Tang, but those were planned well ahead of time. K-State coaches and players packed extra clothes and organized team events weeks in advance.
This time, they had to get creative.
“We don’t get to travel back right now,” Tang said after the TCU loss. “So we’re going to take care of our bodies and get some food and get some rest and start our scout on Oklahoma State.”
Perhaps this will be a positive turn of events for the Wildcats. Even though fighting boredom for five straight days is no easy task, they will have limited distractions as they prepare for the Cowboys.
Oklahoma State is struggling at the moment, coming off a pair of double-digit losses against Houston and West Virginia at the start of Big 12 play.
The Wildcats have lost 11 straight road games dating back to last season, so maybe some extra time together will help them snap the streak and make for a happy flight home.
This story was originally published January 6, 2025 at 10:02 AM with the headline "K-State basketball’s travel plans altered by blizzard. Here’s how Wildcats will adjust."