
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State was rewarded for a successful season on Sunday, as the Wildcats earned their 29th overall bid to the NCAA Tournament, including the third in five seasons under Bruce Weber.
K-State (20-13, 8-10 Big 12) was selected as a No. 11 seed in the South Regional and will travel to Dayton, Ohio, to play in the First Four to play fellow No. 11 seed Wake Forest (19-13, 9-9 ACC) on Tuesday, March 14 at the University of Dayton Arena. The winner will advance to play No. 6 seed Cincinnati (29-4, 16-2 AAC) on Friday, March 17 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California.
The Wildcats will be joined at the venue by fellow No. 11 seeds Providence and USC and No. 16 seeds Mount St. Mary’s and New Orleans of the East Regional and No. 16 seeds North Carolina Central and UC Davis of the East Regional. The top seeds in the South Regional are No. 1 seed North Carolina, No. 2 seed Kentucky, No. 3 seed UCLA, No. 4 seed Butler and No. 5 seed Minnesota.
K-State and Wake Forest will tip off at 8:10 p.m. CT or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game of the evening session between No. 16 seeds Mount Saint Mary’s and New Orleans on Tuesday. The game will be broadcast nationally on TruTV with Brian Anderson, Clark Kellogg and Lewis Johnson.
Tickets may be requested by current Ahearn Fund members, men’s basketball season ticket holders, faculty/staff, studentsand alumni. Ahearn Fund members and season ticket holders received an email and can now order online. Faculty/staff, students and alumni should call the K-State Ticket Office at (800) 221.CATS on Monday between 8:30 a.m. and noon. Tickets are priced at $65 for the First Four match-up.
Fans can also pre-order tickets for the 1st and 2nd rounds in Sacramento. Tickets are priced at $100, and the deadline to request is 5:30 p.m. Monday. Orders placed for Friday will automatically be rolled over to Sunday should K-State advance. All seats will be assigned in order of K-State Athletics priority points following the noon and 5:30 p.m. deadlines. Any first and second round tickets remaining on Tuesday, March 14 will be made open to the public at 8:30 a.m., while tickets for the game in Dayton will be made available to public beginning at 1:00 p.m. Monday. All tickets are will call only.
Kansas State is making its 36th postseason appearance, which includes 29 in the NCAA Tournament and seven in the Postseason NIT. The Wildcats advance to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in 11 seasons, including their first since a second-round appearance in 2014. The program has now advanced to the postseason nine times in the last 11 seasons (seven trips to NCAA Tournament and two to the NIT). The 29 overall bids ties for 23rdnationally (along with Utah and BYU), including fourth among Big 12 schools.
In its last appearance, the ninth-seeded Wildcats fell to No. 8 seed Kentucky, 56-49, in the NCAA Midwest Regional second round at the Scotttrade Center in St. Louis. The team shot just 35.8 percent (19-of-53), including 23.8 percent (5-of-21) from 3-point range, as then freshman Marcus Foster led three players in double figures with 15 points. Two current players – seniors Wesley Iwundu and D.J. Johnson – played in the game with Iwundu scoring 7
points on 3-of-4 shooting with 3 rebounds, 2 assists and a block in 31 minutes while Johnson played just 4 minutes before breaking his foot in the first half. K-State has a 6-6 NCAA Tournament mark in its last six appearances.
The program has posted a 33-32 all-time record in NCAA Tournament play, including 10-4 in the first round. The school will be making its second appearance in the South Regional with its other trip coming in 1993 and is 0-1 all-time in the region. K-State will be making its third appearance as a No. 11 seed and the first since the 2008 NCAA Tournament, in which, the Wildcats defeated No. 6 USC, 80-67 before falling to No. 3 seed Wisconsin in Omaha, Nebraska. Overall, the school is 1-2 as a No. 11 seed.
In K-State’s 29 previous NCAA Tournament appearances, the Wildcats have advanced to the Sweet 16 a total of 16 times. The program has also reached the Elite Eight 11 times, made four Final Four appearances and played in one National Championship game (1951).
Head coach Bruce Weber becomes fifth different coach to lead K-State to at least three NCAA Tournament appearances and joins Jack Hartman (1978-82), Lon Kruger (1986-90) and Frank Martin (2007-12) as the only coaches to accomplish it three times in a five-year period. Overall, Weber advances to his 11th NCAA Tournament, which includes six at Illinois and two at Southern Illinois. He is 41st head coach in NCAA history to take three different schools to the tournament, including the 21st active coach. He has an 11-10 record in the NCAA Tournament with three trips to the Sweet 16 and the 2005 Final Four.
The Wildcats earned their third 20-win season under head coach Bruce Weber and finished sixth in the Big 12. Overall, the team has four of five starters averaging in double figures led by by Third Team All-Big 12 selectionWesley Iwundu (12.5 ppg., 6.4 rpg.) and All-Big 12 Honorable Mention pick D.J. Johnson (11.2 ppg., 5.8 rpg.).
Wake Forest enters Tuesday’s game with a 19-13 overall record, which includes a 10th-place finish in the rugged Atlantic Coast Conference with a 9-9 mark. The Demon Deacons are led by sophomore forward John Collins, First Team All-ACC performer and the league’s Most Improved Player, who is averaging a team-best 18.9 points on 62 percent shooting to go with 9.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. Two others average in double figures, including sophomore guards Bryant Crawford (16.1 ppg., 5.4 apg.) and Keyshawn Woods (12.8 ppg., 3.5 apg.), while four others average between 6.6 and 9.0 points per game.
Wake Forest is led by Kansas legend and former assistant coach Danny Manning, who led the Jayhawks to a 71-58 victory over the Wildcats in the Midwest Regional Final en route to the national championship in 1988. He has an 81-81 overall record in 5 years as head coach, including a 43-52 mark in this third season at Winston-Salem. He was the head coach at Tulsa from 2012-14, leading the Golden Hurricane to the NCAA Tournament in 2013-14. He spent nine seasons at Kansas from 2003-12, including the last five seasons as an assistant coach.
This will be the first-ever meeting between K-State and Wake Forest on the hardwood.
The winner of Tuesday’s First Four matchup will face No. 6 seed Cincinnati (29-5, 16-2 AAC) on Friday. The Bearcats, which finished second in the American Athletic Conference with a 16-2 mark, has a balanced attack with six players averaging 8 or more points, including four in double figures. Sophomore guard Jacob Evans III leads the way with 13.7 points per game on 47.1 percent shooting, including a team-high 66 3-pointers, while second team All-AAC selection junior forward Kyle Washington averages 13.1 points on 51.3 percent shooting to go with 6.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. Junior forward Gary Clark averages a team-best 7.9 rebounds per game to go with 10.7 points per game, while senior guard Troy Caupain dishes out 4.6 assists per contest.
Cincinnati is coached by 1997 alum Mick Cronin, who has a 305-158 overall record in his 14th season as a head coach, including a 236-134 mark in his 11th season at the helm of the Bearcats.
A meeting with Cincinnati would be the eighth in school history, including the fourth in the NCAA Tournament.
K-State was one of six Big 12 teams to earn berths in NCAA Tournament, joining No. 1 seed Kansas (Midwest), No. 3 seed Baylor (East), No. 4 seed West Virginia (West), No. 5 seed Iowa State (Midwest) and No. 10 seed Oklahoma State (Midwest) in the field.
In addition, all three Division I programs in the state of Kansas (Kansas, Kansas State and Wichita State) all advanced to the NCAA Tournament for fourth time in six seasons.
Kansas State Press Conference Quotes
Head coach Bruce Weber
On feeling of selection Sunday…
“We kept hearing that we were in, anyone we talked to, and we felt pretty good. As it got closer to the time I became more nervous and Rhode Island won and I did not know if they were in or not and it could have taken a spot and changed the set-up of it. I am thrilled for our kids and for our coaches that they get the opportunity, it is well deserved. It has been an up and down, all around type season and they have stayed the course. I thought we played as well as anybody in the league and maybe even in the country the last two weeks and now we have to do it again on Tuesday night and that is the most important. You have the opportunity, make the most of it.”
On if the team is peaking…
“I do not know about peaking. We have played better at different times of the year and obviously the last two weeks we have been pretty good and like I said we have to do it Tuesday night and that is what we have to focus on. It is a quick turnaround for everybody, and for us. The preparation and the short period of time, it is important to focus and have that determination that we had with TCU and Texas Tech and then again with Baylor and West Virginia. We have to come out with that drive and that determination. I think the defense, I told the guys after we shot and did a couple of drills, I went to the shell drill and I told them this is what gave you a chance, getting after them on defense and that this is going to give us a chance to be successful in the tournament. We have to guard well, and they have a big guy in John Collins, we recruited him. Coach [Chester] Frazier and I were the first to go see him when he was not a name in Florida, and you know he has really gotten good and they are saying he is a draft choice. They have some other guys that can really shoot the basketball. We have to guard them, and that will be the most important thing.”
On playing in the first four tournament games…
“I told the kids three weeks ago, just kind of chatting and at the time we were just hoping to survive to get into the tournament and I told them, even if you do get into the first four, if you get by that first game I think you have somewhat of an advantage. Obviously you have to win it first. It is very hectic, we do not even know when we are leaving and we are playing Tuesday night. We went through it with LaSalle, we came off of winning the Big 12 ad then getting to the tournament championship game and all of the celebration and hoopla and trying to get them to realize that LaSalle is pretty good. They came in loose and free and got up nineteen and we scrambled to get back in the game. There are a lot of teams who have been in this situation. Obviously Coach [Shaka] Smart is at Texas because of his VCU team. They did not even watch the selection Sunday show together, I remember that story but they ended up winning three games and going to the final four so a lot of good things can happen but we just have to worry about Wake Forest.”
On reward of getting into the tournament…
“I appreciate the players and our staff. This is simply staying the course and staying positive and staying after it and believing. It is your goal every year to be in the NCAA tournament. We were picked ninth in the league beforehand but we finished ahead of that prediction. I think we went into the Big 12 tournament and showed very well, now can we make it a special season and do something here in the NCAA tournament. I am just happy for our guys, they get an opportunity to play in the tournament and to be a part of it.”
Senior Guard Wesley Iwundu
On the reaction to making the tournament…
“I was probably the happiest in the room. It is a big time accomplishment for me, my teammates, and for the seniors to go out on this note. We are not done yet but we are happy we are in the NCAA tournament. We are ready to do some things.”
On the bracket standings…
“I had a feeling it would be this scenario for us. We are excited for it and we feel like we have a good shot at some things. We are just ready to play.”
On motivation being the last team in the tournament…
“It is always motivation but we are in so what more can you ask for. Anyway you put it, we have a chance just like every other team does in this tournament to go on and win the Championship. We cannot ask for anything more, it is there in our face and we have to go take it.”
On Wake Forest …
“We have actually seen them play a lot throughout the whole year. They have good players, you know John Collins is a big man and they have some other good players. We have been in the Big 12 all year so it is nothing we have not seen. We have been playing against a bunch of good players all year so we are ready for this challenge. We just have to go take it.”
Senior Forward D.J. Johnson
On the week ahead…
“It should be a fun week. It will keep us on our toes and get us in shape for Friday.”
On what the tournament means to you…
“It is just to show how we came back and we are just happy to be back. I do not know exactly what it means but we are ready to make some noise.”
On Isaiah Maurice …
“He has been practicing a little bit better. They say you play how you practice so the past few weeks of practice he has played really good. Sometimes he cares too much about missing a shot so it is just about bouncing back. It is really good to see him not let that one mistake get the best of him and mess up the rest of his night. He really cares and it is great to see that he does care, and put that performance on the court.”
On going against Wake Forest…
“I definitely did not want to leave this place without getting back into the tournament. It is something I want to give back to the fans and my teammates, who have worked really hard for it for the past two years.”
Senior Guard Carlbe Ervin II
On feelings before the announcement…
“I was definitely nervous just waiting and waiting. When I got that text I was ready, and I was happy.”
On thoughts on making the tournament after losing in the semi-finals…
“I did not know if we were in. I did know that we were in good shape to be playing another game but I honestly just did not know.”
On the bench players’ performance…
“We make runs when we get in. we are just locking in the defense. It is the best defense we have been playing all year. We held West Virginia to 51 points so that was some good defense.”
On how rewarding it is making the tournament …
“It feels great and it is an honor to go to the NCAA tournament. We have a chance to win some games so I am happy.”
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TOM GILBERT
Associate Director for Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics