GAME #24

KANSAS STATE (16-7, 5-5 Big 12) at rv/rv TEXAS (15-8, 5-5 Big 12)

Wednesday, February 7, 2018 >> 7 p.m. CT >> Frank Erwin Center (16,540) >> Austin, Texas

 

COACHES

Kansas State: Bruce Weber (Wis.-Milwaukee ’78)

Overall: 429-230/20^th season

At K-State: 116-75/6^th season

1. Texas: 6-5 (2-2 on the road)

Texas: Shaka Smart (Kenyon College ’99)

Career Record: 209-99/9^th Year

Record at Texas: 46-43/3^rd Year

1. Kansas State: 2-2 (1-1 at home)

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State (16-7, 5-5 Big 12)

G: #2 Cartier Diarra

G: #5 Barry Brown, Jr.

G: #20 Xavier Sneed

F: #32 Dean Wade

F: #14 Makol Mawien

Texas (15-8, 5-5 Big 12)

G: #2 Matt Coleman

G: #12 Kerwin Roach II

G: #13 Jase Febres

F: #21 Dylan Osetkowski

F: #4 Mo Bamba

SERIES HISTORY

Overall: K-State leads 19-15

In Austin: Texas leads 9-7

In Manhattan: K-State leads 10-5

Big 12 era: Texas leads 15-14

Active Streak: K-State, 2

Weber vs. Texas: 6-5 (2-2 on the road)

Smart vs. K-State: 2-2 (1-1 at home)

Weber vs. Smart: 2-2 (1-1 on the road)

OPENING TIP

• Kansas State (16-7, 5-5 Big 12) concludes a two-game Big 12 road swing on Wednesday night, as the Wildcats travel to Austin, Texas, to take on Texas (15-8, 5-5 Big 12) at 7 p.m., CT at the Frank Erwin Center. Both teams sit in a tie for fifth place in the Big 12 standings with 5-5 marks, just two games behind co-leaders Texas Tech and Kansas and one game back of Oklahoma and West Virginia. The Wildcats have lost back-to-back games after a four-game win streak, while the Longhorns have won three of their last four outings, including a 79-74 win over No. 12/11 Oklahoma. Wednesday’s game will air on the Longhorn Network and the WatchESPN app with Lowell Galindo (play-by-play) and Lance Blanks (analyst) on the call.
• This will be the first meeting between K-State and Texas this season, as the teams will meet twice in the last eight games of the regular season. This will be the 35th meeting between the schools, including the 30th in the Big 12 era, with the Wildcats holding a slight 19-15 advantage in a series that dates to 1971. K-State swept the season series a year ago, winning 65-62 at home on Dec. 30, 2016 before earning a 64-61 win in the last seconds in its last visit to the Erwin Center on Feb. 18, 2017. Before those two games, the Longhorns had won five of the last six in the series.
• West Virginia owns a 9-5 advantage in the all-time series with K-State with eight wins in the last nine meetings between the schools by an average margin of 8.4 points per game. The Mountaineers are 8-4 in the Big 12 era and are attempting to sweep the season series for the third time in four seasons after earning a 77-69 win over the Wildcats in the first meeting on New Year’s Day at Bramlage Coliseum. In that contest, West Virginia connected on 53.6 percent from the field and had four players score in double figures led by freshman Teddy Allen’s 22 points. K-State was held to just 35.7 percent shooting, as sophomore Xavier Sneed led with 20 points.
• Wednesday’s tilt continues a stretch of three road games in a four-game stretch, as K-State plays at Texas and Oklahoma State (14-9, 4-6 Big 12) in between a home game with No. 7/7 Texas Tech (19-4, 7-3 Big 12) on Saturday. The Wildcats are 5-5 away from Bramlage Coliseum this season, which includes a 4-3 record in true road games and a 2-3 mark on the road in Big 12 play. The four road wins are the second-most of any Big 12 team this season and only eclipsed by Kansas’ five. The Longhorns are 11-2 at home this season, including 4-1 in Big 12 play.
• K-State’s offensive struggles continued in its 89-51 loss at No. 15/11 West Virginia on Saturday, as the Wildcats tied or posted season-lows in nine categories, including points (51), field goals made (14) and field goal percentage (29.8). The team has now failed to eclipse 60-point barrier in the three consecutive games since February 2015. The 38-point loss tied for the sixth-largest margin of defeat in school history and the biggest since a 93-52 loss at UMKC on Dec. 30, 2003. It was the largest defeat in Big 12 play since a 104-63 setback to No. 22 Texas on Jan. 12, 1997.
• Junior guard Kamau Stokes, who had missed the last seven games due to a foot injury, made his return to the lineup at West Virginia on Saturday, scoring 2 points and dishing out a team-best 4 assists in 10 minutes. He is expected to play in the range of 10-15 minutes against Texas.

NOTES ON TEXAS

• Texas enters Wednesday’s contest with a 15-8 overall record and a 5-5 mark in Big 12 play after a come-from-behind 79-74 victory over No. 12/15 Oklahoma on Saturday night at home. The Longhorns trailed 66-57 with just under eight minutes to play before using a 13-0 run to take a four-point lead with 3:41 to play. The squad then iced the game at the line, hitting on 8-of-10 free throw, to win their third game in four outings. Freshman guard Matt Coleman led the way with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-13 field goals, while junior guard Kerwin Roach II and junior forward Dylan Osetkowski added 19 and 15 points, respectively. Freshman sensation Mo Bamba had a near double-double with 13 points and a game-high 9 boards.
• The Longhorns are averaging 72.8 points on 44.1 percent shooting, including 31.2 percent from 3-point range, while they are allowing 66.9 points on 40.5 percent from the field, including 32.0 percent from long range. The team is averaging 7.0 3-point field goals per game with eight players totaling at least 11 or more treys. They are also averaging 36.5 rebounds, 11.8 assists, 12.4 turnovers, 6.1 steals and 5.7 blocks per game. Texas is one of the best defensive teams in the country, ranking 12th in blocked shots/game, 26th in field goal percentage defense and 49th in 3-point field goal percentage.  The team is shooting 66.5 percent from the free throw line.
• Junior Dylan Osetkowski paces four players in double figures with a team-best 14.2 points per game average on 40.9 percent shooting and 73.0 percent from the free throw line. The Tulane transfer is also averaging 7.3 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Freshman Mo Bamba is averaging a double-double with 13 points on 55.4 percent shooting, with 10.8 rebounds and 4.4 blocks per game. Bamba ranks second nationally in blocks, while he is 13th in rebounding. Junior Kerwin Roach II is also averaging double figures at 12.3 points on 50.5 percent shooting to go with 3.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Freshman Matt Coleman and junior Eric Davis, Jr., are averaging 8.6 points per game with Davis leading the way with 31 3-point field goals. The team is without sophomore Andrew Jones, who was averaging 13.5 points, before being diagnosed with leukemia.
• Texas is led by third-year head coach Shaka Smart, who has a 209-99 (.679) overall record in nine seasons as head coach, which includes an ultra-successful six-year tenure at VCU (2009-15) with five NCAA Tournament appearance and trip to the 2010 Final Four. Smart is 46-43 (.517) in his third season at Texas, which includes a trip to the NCAA Tournament in his first season in 2015-16.

SERIES HISTORY

• This will be 35th meeting between Kansas State and Texas on the hardwood, including the 30th in the Big 12 era, with the Wildcats holding a 19-15 advantage in a series that dates to 1971. K-State won the first five meetings with Texas between 1971-84, including a 66-55 victory in the 1972 NCAA Tournament held at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
• The series has been one of the most competitive since the start of Big 12 play with Texas holding a slight 15-14 edge since the inception of the league in 1997. The Longhorns won nine of the first 14 meetings (1997-2009) in Big 12 play before the Wildcats rebounded to win seven of the next nine meetings (2010-14). Since 2015, Texas has won four of the last six meetings, however, K-State snapped a four-game skid by sweeping the season series in 2017 with a 65-62 victory at home on Dec. 30, 2016 before a last-second 64-61 win in the last trip to Austin on Feb. 18, 2017.
• Head coach Bruce Weber is 6-5 all-time against Texas, including a 2-3 mark at the Erwin Center.

LAST MEETING: K-STATE 64, TEXAS 61

• Senior D.J. Johnson’s 3-point play with 1.3 seconds helped lift K-State past Texas, 64-61, in the teams’ last meeting at the Frank Erwin Center on Feb. 18, 2017. The win helped the Wildcats snap a 3-game losing streak and earn their first win at the Erwin Center since an 81-69 victory over the Longhorns on Feb. 23, 2013 to halt a 3-game skid in Austin. With the score knotted at 61-all after K-State called its final timeout with 8.6 seconds, Johnson was able to collect sophomore Kamau Stokes’ miss and hoist up the decisive shot before being fouled by Kendal Yancy with 1.3 seconds remaining. After Johnson hit the free throw, the Longhorns were not able to get a shot off before the final buzzer sounded.
• The last-second win highlighted a very strange offensive day for the Wildcats, which connected on 53.5 percent (23-of-43) from the field, including 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from 3-point range. K-State shot a season-best 76.2 percent (16-of-21) in the first half, which tied for the seventh-highest field goal percentage for a half in school history, before connecting on a season-low 31.8 percent (7-of-22) in the second half.
• Senior Wesley Iwundu paced three Wildcats in double figures with a game-high 16 points on 5-of-10 field goals, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, to go with team-bests in rebounds (7) and assists (4) in 35 minutes. Sophomore Barry Brown, Jr., scored in double figures for the third straight games with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while Stokes registered double-digit points for the 17th consecutive game with 14 points.

–www.kstatesports.com–