GAME #10

KANSAS STATE (8-1) vs TULSA (4-4)

Wichita Wildcat Classic

Saturday, December 9, 2017 >> 7:10 p.m. CT >> INTRUST Bank Arena (15,004) >> Wichita, Kan.

TELEVISION

COACHES

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

Overall: 421-224/20^th season

At K-State: 108-69/6^th season

1. Tulsa: 2-0

Tulsa: Frank Haith (Elon ’88)

Career Record: 249-173/13th Year

Record at Tulsa: 62-44/4th Year

1. Kansas State: 0-2

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State (8-1)

G: #3 Kamau Stokes

G: #5 Barry Brown, Jr.

G: #20 Xavier Sneed

F: #32 Dean Wade

F: #14 Makol Mawien

Tulsa (4-4)

G: #4 Sterling Taplin

G: #10 Curran Scott

G: #13 Jaleel Wheeler

G/F: #2 DaQuan Jeffries

F: #0 Junior Etou

SERIES HISTORY

Overall: Tulsa leads 5-1

In Wichita: First meeting

Last Meeting: L, 61-72, 12/12/1990

Weber vs. Haith: 0-1

OPENING TIP

• Kansas State (8-1) makes the short trek south to Wichita, as the Wildcats play host to American Conference foe Tulsa (4-4) at 7 p.m., CT on Saturday in the Wichita Wildcat Classic at INTRUST Bank Arena. It will mark the fourth edition of the game, which began in 2011. K-State is 2-1 all-time in the event, defeating Gonzaga, 72-62, on Dec. 21, 2013 and Colorado State, 61-58, on Dec. 19, 2015 after losing a double-overtime thriller to West Virginia in the inaugural game on Dec. 8, 2011.
• K-State has a long history of playing games in Wichita with 21 such matchups dating back to the first game in the city on Dec. 17, 1932. The school is 9-12 all-time in games played in Wichita, which includes 15 meetings with the hometown Shockers and NCAA Tournament games in both 1964 and 1968.
• K-State and Tulsa will meet for the first time since 1990 in what will be the start of a three-game series between the schools. The Golden Hurricane own a commanding 5-1 advantage in the all-time series that dates all the way back to 1965, including a 2-1 mark in games played on the road. The Wildcats won their first and only matchup in the series, 75-69, at Bramlage Coliseum on Dec. 14, 1989. Tulsa won the last meeting, 72-61, at home on Dec. 12, 1990.
• The Wildcats will put their 23-game non-conference home winning streak to the test against the Golden Hurricanes, as the contest will represent a home game since the school controls all the ticket sales and runs all the game operations for the Wichita Wildcat Classic. The 23-game win streak, which dates back to the start of the 2015-16 season, spans Bramlage Coliseum (21 straight such wins) as well as INTRUST Bank Arena (2015 Wichita Wildcat Classic vs. Colorado State) and Kansas City’s Sprint Center (2016 Wildcat Classic vs. Washington State).
• K-State has a 96-5 (.949) record at home venues in non-conference play since 2006-07, including 88-5 (.946) mark at Bramlage Coliseum, and has won 83 of their last 86 non-conference home games. This season, the team is 6-0 at home (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 ran their non-conference winning streak at Bramlage Coliseum to 21 games on Tuesday night, as the team jumped out to leads of 14-0 and 27-4 en route to an 86-49 victory over USC Upstate. K-State was efficient on offense once again, connecting on 50.8 percent (30-of-59) from the field and recording assists on 21 of 30 made field goals, while the defense held the Spartans to a season-low 49 points (26 points under their 75.0 points per game scoring average).

• K-State among the national leaders in several defensive categories, including 13th in scoring defense (61.1 ppg.) and 19th in field goal percentage defense (37.5), while the squad is ninth in assist turnover ratio (1.56), 11th in turnover margin (+5.8) and 15th in fewest turnovers per game (10.7).

NOTES ON TULSA

• Tulsa enters Saturday’s contest with a 4-4 overall record and have been off from competition this past week after dropping a road game at Illinois State, 65-58, on Dec. 2. The second loss to the Redbirds (also lost at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach on Nov. 19) snapped a two-game winning streak (Central Arkansas and UTSA). The Golden Hurricane also have wins over Oral Roberts and Western Michigan, while their other two losses have come to Lamar and Iowa State.
• The Golden Hurricane are averaging nearly 80 points per game (79.2) on 47.1 percent shooting, including 34.1 percent from 3-point range, with 37.6 rebounds, 13.0 assists, 4.3 steals and 3.3 blocks per game, while allowing opponents to average 77 points on 42.7 percent shooting, including 37.3 percent from long range. The team is shooting 71 percent from the free throw line.
• Senior forward Junior Etou paces four players in double figures at 16.8 points per game on 57.4 percent shooting with a team-best 6.4 rebounds in 26.5 minutes per game. The transfer from Rutgers averages 6.1 free throw makes per game to go with 9 attempts per game. Junior guard Sterling Taplin is second in scoring at 13.4 points per game on 45.9 percent shooting to go with a team-best 3.8 assists per game. Fellow junior DaQuan Jeffries also averages double figures at 11.4 points per game on a 62.1 field goal percentage and 5.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. Sophomore Curran Scott averages 9.4 points on 40.4 percent shooting, while three others — Martins Igbanu (6.8 ppg.), Elijah Joiner (6.3 ppg.) and Corey Henderson, Jr. (6.0 ppg.) — all average better than 6 points per outing.
• Tulsa is led by fourth-year head coach Frank Haith, who has a 62-44 (.585) in his tenure. Overall, he has a 249-173 mark in his 13th season as head coach, which includes stints at Miami (2004-11), Missouri (2011-14) and now Tulsa. He is 0-2 all-time against K-State.

TOM GILBERT
Associate Director for Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics

MANHATTAN, Kan. – With four on the first team to tie for second in the league, five Kansas State football players picked up honors from the Associated Press on Fridayas they were named to the organization’s All-Big 12 football team.

 

The Wildcats’ four first-team members included are offensive lineman Dalton Risner, place kicker Matthew McCrane, defensive tackle Will Geary and defensive backD.J. Reed. Punter Nick Walsh was named to the second team, while Reed was a second team all-purpose player.

 

Risner, McCrane, Geary and Reed were also named First Team All-Big 12 performers by the league’s coaches last week as they each swept all-conference honors for the first time in their careers. Geary was a First Team All-Big 12 honoree from the Associated Press for a third-straight season as he became the first Wildcat interior defensive lineman since Reggie Singletaryin 1981-83 to earn three-consecutive first team accolades.

 

A second-team honoree by the AP in 2016, Risner helped spearhead an offensive line that helped the Wildcats finish the regular season second in the Big 12 in rushing yards per game (186.7) and yards per carry (4.8), while they ranked fourth in rushing touchdowns (25). K-State has recorded six games with at least 200 rushing yards this year, including a 268-yard output against then-No. 9 Oklahoma and 217 yards in a win at No. 10 Oklahoma State.

 

Reed, a product of Bakersfield, California, enters the bowl season ranked second in the Big 12 and 21^st nationally in both passes defended (13) and interceptions (4). Over a three-game span against Kansas, Texas Tech and West Virginia, Reed totaled seven passes defended and two interceptions.

 

Named a Second Team All-American kick returner by the Walter Camp Football Foundation on Thursday, Reed’s inclusion as an all-purpose player marks the sixth time in the last seven years a Wildcat has been honored at the position by the Associated Press. Reed ranks in the top 10 nationally in kickoff-return average (2^nd; 35.3), punt-return average (2^nd; 17.1) and punt-return touchdowns (10^th; 1). He currently ranks first in Big 12 history in single-season kickoff return average and sixth in school history in punt return average.

 

McCrane, a native of Brownwood, Texas, leads the Big 12 and ranks seventh nationally by making 21 of his 26 field goal attempts in addition to all 43 of his extra points. The school’s career record holder with 57 field goals, McCrane is also first in school history in career field goal (86.4) and extra point (99.2) percentage, while he is third in career points (299).

 

Geary produced his best season as a senior with 43 tackles, 9.0 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks, the latter two setting career highs. A product of Topeka, Kansas, Geary has 25.0 TFLs and 163 career tackles rank fourth and 12^th, respectively, in school history among interior defensive linemen.

 

A native of Lyndon, Kansas, Walsh ranks second in the Big 12 with a 43.7-yard average – a mark that currently ranks fifth in school history – while he has seen a career-best 20 punts downed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. His career average of 42.3 yards per punt ranks third in K-State history, while he is also fourth in both career yards (9,058) and attempts (54).

 

Kansas State rides momentum created by winning four of its last five games into the 2017 Cactus Bowl against UCLA on Tuesday, December 26. The game, which kicks off at 8 p.m. (CT), will be shown nationally on ESPN. Fans can order bowl tickets through the K-State Bowl Information page by clicking here.

 

Associated Press All-Big 12 Teams (Kansas State)

First Team: Dalton Risner (OL), Matthew McCrane (PK), Will Geary (DT), D.J. Reed (DB).

Second Team: D.J. Reed (All-Purpose), Nick Walsh (P).

 

– k-statesports.com –

RYAN LACKEY
Asst. Director/Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics

 

 

MANHATTAN, Kan. – One of the most dynamic return men in the country, Kansas State junior D.J. Reed has been named a Second Team All-American, the Walter Camp Football Foundation announced Thursday night.

 

Reed is the third Wildcat kick returner in the last four seasons to be named an All-American, following Morgan Burns (2015) and Tyler Lockett (2014). It is the 13^th time a Wildcat has been named a Walter Camp All-American, the oldest All-America team that released its 128^th edition on Thursday.

 

Reed ranks second nationally in both kickoff- (35.3) and punt-return (17.1) average, while he has a touchdown of each variety this year. A 2017 First Team All-Big 12 kick returner, Reed is the first Wildcat since Terence Newman in 2002 to return have a kickoff-return touchdown and a non-blocked punt-return touchdown in the same season.

 

A product of Bakersfield, California, Reed currently holds the top mark in Big 12 history in single-season kickoff-return average, while his 32.7-yard career average rank second in school history. His punt-return average this year ranks sixth in K-State history.

 

Reed earned a pair of Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week honors this year after combining for 181 yards and a punt-return touchdown in the season opener against Central Arkansas before topping that mark with 189 combined yards and a kickoff-return touchdown against Kansas. His two combined return yardage marks rank first and second in the Big 12 this year.

 

Also a First Team All-Big 12 performer at defensive back, Reed enters the bowl season ranking second in the Big 12 and 21st nationally in both interceptions and passes defended. He has 32 career passes defended to sit just two away from entering the school’s career top-10 list.

Kansas State faces UCLA in the 2017 Cactus Bowl inside Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday, December 26. The game, which will kick off at 8 p.m. (CT), will be televised nationally on ESPN. Fans can order tickets for the game through the K-State Bowl Game headquarters by clicking here.

 

– k-statesports.com –

 
RYAN LACKEY
Asst. Director/Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Kansas State offensive coordinator Dana Dimel has been named head coach at UTEP, where he will take over a team coming off a winless season.

Dimel was named the Miners coach Wednesday. Sean Kugler resigned Oct. 1 after the team’s 0-5 start in his fifth season at his alma mater. Former coach Mike Price served as interim coach the remaining seven games.

UTEP said in a release that the school and the 55-year-old Dimel are working on a mutually agreeable start date following completion of his coaching responsibilities with Kansas State, his alma mater where he has been back since 2009. The Wildcats play in the Cactus Bowl on Dec. 26.

This will be Dimel’s third stint as a head coach. He had a 30-39 record at Wyoming (1997-99) and Houston (2000-02).

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kamau Stokes scored 17 points with five 3-pointers and Kansas State cruised past SC Upstate 86-49. Barry Brown scored 15 points with four assists, Dean Wade added 13 points with seven rebounds, and the Wildcats (8-1) made 12 3-pointers and shot 50.8 percent from the floor.

 

 

TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas State High School Activities Association is proud to announce a new website to showcase the many accomplishments throughout history obtained by student-athletes, coaches, teams and more. Introducing the ‘KSHSAA Gallery of Champions’ which can be found at www.kshsaachamps.org.

The website, activated on Tuesday for public use, will host the KSHSAA Hall of Fame, records, postseason results, state championship team pictures, Oscar Stauffer Award, Spirit of Sport and Heart of the Arts Award, and the Kansas members in the NFHS Hall of Fame.

“Kansas has many individuals who have made a lasting impact on interscholastic athletics and activities within the state. This new website helps display their accomplishments,” said KSHSAA Executive Director, Gary Musselman. “This has been a vision of the KSHSAA for years and we are happy this day has come.”

One specific feature this website entails is the connectivity within the different fields. For example, if viewing Brian Shay’s KSHSAA Hall of Fame page you can also see at that time he was a senior when Paola won the State Football Championship in 1994.

The state champions page is an extension of the Kopelk Memorial which is housed in Topeka at the KSHSAA office. The memorial is named after Carl Kopelk who served as KSHSAA Executive Director from 1957-1962. After each state championship claimed by a school, they are instructed to send in a team picture which is retained to display the following year. ‘KSHSAA Gallery of Champions’ will now host every team picture in the history of team championships.

With over 100 years of history to display the website is considered a work in progress. Information will be updated as time allows, with the goal of becoming the ultimate index for KSHSAA postseason and award history.

TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas State High School Activities Association is proud to announce a new website to showcase the many accomplishments throughout history obtained by student-athletes, coaches, teams and more. Introducing the ‘KSHSAA Gallery of Champions’ which can be found at www.kshsaachamps.org.

The website, activated on Tuesday for public use, will host the KSHSAA Hall of Fame, records, postseason results, state championship team pictures, Oscar Stauffer Award, Spirit of Sport and Heart of the Arts Award, and the Kansas members in the NFHS Hall of Fame.

“Kansas has many individuals who have made a lasting impact on interscholastic athletics and activities within the state. This new website helps display their accomplishments,” said KSHSAA Executive Director, Gary Musselman. “This has been a vision of the KSHSAA for years and we are happy this day has come.”

One specific feature this website entails is the connectivity within the different fields. For example, if viewing Brian Shay’s KSHSAA Hall of Fame page you can also see at that time he was a senior when Paola won the State Football Championship in 1994.

The state champions page is an extension of the Kopelk Memorial which is housed in Topeka at the KSHSAA office. The memorial is named after Carl Kopelk who served as KSHSAA Executive Director from 1957-1962. After each state championship claimed by a school, they are instructed to send in a team picture which is retained to display the following year. ‘KSHSAA Gallery of Champions’ will now host every team picture in the history of team championships.

With over 100 years of history to display the website is considered a work in progress. Information will be updated as time allows, with the goal of becoming the ultimate index for KSHSAA postseason and award history.

Kansas State will play UCLA in the Cactus Bowl on December 26 in Phoenix, Arizona.
K-State Head Coach Bill Snyder
Opening Statement…
“The opportunity to once again be in the desert is something that our players and people that travel with us, from staff to families, have always enjoyed, and they will certainly enjoy their time there. The opportunities that are provided through the bowl are very special to our program. People have been very gracious to us, and we look forward to returning. Certainly the opponent, UCLA, is a very fine football team that has been through some difficult times during the course of the season with a number of injuries but should be healthy for the ballgame. They are more than a formidable opponent. Our players are excited about the opportunity to be in another bowl game. They take none of them lightly. We remember playing in the Copper Bowl in 1993, and we had 22,500 people in the first one for my career here and people were overjoyed. It was a wonderful experience, and each one thereafter has been very special. Our people are looking forward to it, and I am grateful and thankful that we have the opportunity.”

On finishing the season strong and carrying momentum into the bowl…
“I am certainly pleased with the progress that the young people in our program made during the course of the latter part of the season. The lull in between, which has happened to us for two years in succession, really needs a great deal of attention. It was a very disappointing time during that stretch in the middle. As you would hope for, expect and ask of your players, I thought they responded quite well. They obviously played well in the last several ballgames of the year. Last year when we came back and finished the season quite well at the end, that propelled us into the bowl game. I thought there was a very positive approach, and hopefully the finish this year will do the same for our ballgame with UCLA.”

On the team’s schedule last week after playing on the final weekend of the season over the last several years…
“We did not practice this past week. Players are getting prepared for final exams, and they certainly needed a rest. Our open date – now that we are down to just one open date within the conference – came after the (third) ballgame. So, consequently, they’ve been at it full-go for (nine) weeks in a row. They needed some time off, and we afforded them that. We will start this coming week. The players relish the time off and it was beneficial for them in a lot of different ways, particularly in academics, but also just to get freshened up.”

————
RYAN LACKEY
Asst. Director/Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Xavier Sneed scored a career-high 21 points and Kansas Statepassed its first road test of the season with an 84-79 win at Vanderbilt on Sunday.

The Wildcats (7-1) hit 92 percent of their foul shots on 22-of-24 shooting. Kamau Stokes added 20 points and Barry Brown 18.

Vanderbilt (3-5) rallied from a 16-point deficit to tie the score with 3:33 remaining on Matthew Fisher-Davis’ 3-pointer, but was outscored 13-3 the rest of the way.

Vanderbilt’s Jeff Roberson added to his Southeastern Conference lead with his fifth double-double by scoring 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Saben Lee added 19 points, including 12 at the free-throw line, and Joe Toye scored 11.

Vanderbilt’s Riley LaChance fouled out after being hit with a double technical foul with 7:38 left. He exited with nine points after erupting for a career-high 27 in Tuesday’s 74-62 win over Radford.

After trailing by as many as 16 in the first half, Vanderbilt made a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to 58-57 on LaChance’s 3-pointer with 9:15 remaining in the game.

K-State, whose only loss was a 92-90 setback to 20th-ranked Arizona State on Thanksgiving night, shot 62 percent in the first half to seize a 43-30 lead.

Vanderbilt started cold, missing 14 of its first 21 shots from the field.