KANSAS STATE (8-2) vs SE MISSOURI STATE (6-4)
Saturday, December 16, 2017 >> 7:10 p.m. CT >> Bramlage Coliseum (12,528) >> Manhattan, Kan.
COACHES
Kansas State: Bruce Weber (Wis.-Milwaukee ’78)
Overall: 421-225/20th season
At K-State: 108-70/6th season
vs. SE Missouri State: 5-1
SE Missouri State: Rick Ray (Grand View ’94)
Career Record: 26-46/3rd Year
Record at SEMO: 63-106/6th Year
vs. Kansas State: 0-0
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP
Kansas State (8-2)
G: #3 Kamau Stokes
G: #5 Barry Brown, Jr.
G: #20 Xavier Sneed
F: #32 Dean Wade
F: #14 Makol Mawien
SE Missouri State (6-4)
G: #4 Sterling Taplin
G: #10 Curran Scott
G: #13 Jaleel Wheeler
G/F: #2 DaQuan Jeffries
F: #0 Junior Etou
SERIES HISTORY
Overall: K-State leads 1-0
In Manhattan: K-State leads 1-0
Last Meeting: W, 88-68, 11/16/2008
Weber vs. Ray: 0-0
OPENING TIP
Kansas State (8-2) returns home to Bramlage Coliseum on Saturday night, as the Wildcats play host to Ohio Valley Conference foe SE Missouri State (6-4) at Bramlage Coliseum at 7 p.m CT. It will be the second game of a women’s and men’s basketball doubleheader, as the K-State women (6-2) play host to Little Rock at 2 p.m. CT. The men’s contest will be the last of the 2017 calendar, as the team will play Washington State (6-3) at Spokane Arena in Spokane, Wash., on Wednesday, Dec. 20 before the start of Big 12 play at Iowa State (7-2) on Friday, Dec. 29.
The athletic department will accept toy donations for Fort Riley’s Operation Santa Claus at Saturday’s game, along with the women’s game on Dec. 21. In exchange for the toy donation, fans will be able to purchase a single-game ticket for just $5.
This will be just second meeting between K-State and SE Missouri State on the hardwood and the first since the Wildcats earned an 88-68 victory over the Redhawks on Nov. 16, 2008. Overall, the school is 15-1 all-time against teams from the Ohio Valley Conference, including an 11-0 mark at home.
K-State saw its 23-game non-conference home winning streak end in Saturday’s 61-54 loss to Tulsa in the Wichita Wildcat Classic at INTRUST Bank Arena, which was considered a home game. However, the Wildcats still enter Saturday’s game against SE Missouri State with a 21-game winning streak against non-conference opponents at Bramlage Coliseum, which dates back to the start of the 2015-16 season.
K-State has a 96-6 (.950) record at home venues in non-conference play since the 2006-07 season, including an 88-5 (.946) mark at Bramlage Coliseum, and has won 83 of its last 87 non-conference home games. This season, the Wildcats have a 6-0 record at Bramlage Coliseum (American, UMKC, UC Irvine, Northern Arizona, Oral Roberts and USC Upstate) with an average margin of victory of 24.8 points per game.
The Wildcats posted season-lows in 12 offensive categories in Saturday’s loss to the Golden Hurricane, including points (54), field goals (18), 3-point field goals (4), field goal percentage (32.1) and 3-point field goal percentage (12.9). It was the fewest points since scoring 50 against No. 11 West Virginia in the semifinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on March 10, 2017, while it was the lowest field goal percentage since shooting 25 percent at Oklahoma on Feb. 25, 2017.
Sophomore Xavier Sneed led four Wildcats in double figures against Tulsa and became the first player in recorded history to pace the squad in five categories with 15 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 1 block in 32 minutes. Sneed, who has scored in double figures in six games, has upped his scoring average from 7.1 points to 11.4 points per game while posting averages of 3.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.8 steals in 27.1 minutes per game.
K-State held Tulsa to over 18 points under its scoring average (79.2 ppg.) and nearly 7 percentage points under its season field goal percentage (47.1). The Wildcats rank in the Top 20 nationally in both scoring defense (61.1 ppg./13th) and field goal percentage defense (37.8/18th).
NOTES ON SE MISSOURI STATE
SE Missouri State enters Saturday’s contest with a 6-4 overall record and just like K-State has had the week off since a 75-69 victory at Southern Illinois on Dec. 9. The Redhawks have won four in a row, including road victories at North Carolina Central (86-77) and SIU to go with home wins over Hannibal-LaGrange (83-59) and UMKC (91-87). The school opened the year with just two wins in its first six games.
The Redhawks are averaging nearly 80 points per game (78.7) on 47.2 percent shooting, including 39.6 percent from 3-point range, with 35.0 rebounds, 14.7 assists, 6.4 steals and 2.6 blocks per game, while allowing opponents to average 74.7 points on 45.2 percent shooting, including 35.8 percent from long range. They are averaging 8.4 3-point field goals per game on 21.2 attempts per game with five players posting double-digit 3-point field goals. The team is shooting 73 percent from the line.
Sophomore Denzel Mahoney paces four players in double figures at 19.0 points per game on 52.5 percent shooting, including 47.1 percent from 3-point range, to go with 4.5 rebounds per game. He is also shooting 80 percent from the free throw line. Freshman Ledarrius Brewer is second in scoring at 12.9 points per game on 41.1 percent shooting to go with a team-high 21 3-point field goals, while senior Daniel Simmons averages 12.0 points to go with 3.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Freshman Justin Carpenter averages a team-best 6.0 rebounds to go with 10.6 points per game. Junior Jonathan Dalton paces the team in assists (5.6 apg.), steals (1.3 spg.) and minutes (30.5 mpg.) while shooting 50 percent from the field.
SE Missouri State is led by third-year head coach Rick Ray, who has a 26-46 (.361) record in his tenure. Overall, he has a 63-106 mark in his sixth season as a head coach, which includes stint at Mississippi State (2012-15). He previously served as an assistant at Indiana State (1997-2004), Northern Illinois (2004-06), Purdue (2006-09) and Clemson (2010-12). Ray’s time at Indiana State overlaps Bruce Weber’s time at Southern Illinois (1998-2003).
SERIES HISTORY
This will be just the second meeting between Kansas State and SE Missouri State on the hardwood with the Wildcats posting an 88-68 win over the Redhawks on Nov. 16, 2008 at Bramlage Coliseum. Guard Fred Brown led four players in double figures with a game-high 21 points.
Head coach Bruce Weber is 5-1 all-time against SE Missouri State, winning 70-49 on Dec. 28, 1998, 62-51 on Jan. 2, 2000, 92-80 on Dec. 22, 2001, 85-69 on Dec. 7, 2002 and 89-64 on Dec. 28, 2005 to go with an 87-84 loss on the road on Dec. 5, 2000.
K-State is 15-1 all-time vs. the Ohio Valley Conference, including an 11-0 mark at home. The team has played Austin Peay (1-0), Belmont (1-0), Eastern Illinois (2-0), Eastern Kentucky (1-1), Murray State (1-0), SIU-Edwardsville (3-0), SE Missouri State (1-0), Tennessee State (3-0) and Tennessee Tech (2-0). The Wildcats have won their last 10 meetings with the last loss coming to Eastern Kentucky, 54-47, on Dec. 29, 1945 in Kansas City.