KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs placed linebacker James-Michael Johnson on injured reserve with a sprained ankle Tuesday and signed linebacker Robert James as they began preparing for the playoffs.

The Chiefs visit Indianapolis on Saturday.

Johnson was hurt in last week’s overtime loss to San Diego, when he received extended playing time as the Chiefs rested most of their starters. He made five tackles and has his first sack.

Johnson had played primarily on special teams this season.

James has not played this season after spending last season on the Falcons roster. He was a fifth-round pick of Atlanta in the 2008 draft.

 

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) – Shane Southwell had 21 points and Thomas Gipson had 12 points and eight rebounds as Kansas State beat George Washington 72-55 on Tuesday.

Five quick points courtesy of Marcus Foster stretched the Wildcats (10-3) lead to 18 less than two minutes into the second half and it never fell under 15 points the rest of the way.

The victory stretches Kansas State’s winning streak to eight games and gives Southwell his first 20-point performance of the season.

It’s also the 11th time in its last 12 games that Kansas State’s opponent has been held under its scoring average.

George Washington (11-2) entered the contest averaging 77.7 points per game.

Kethan Savage had 12 points to pace the Colonials and leading scorer Maurice Creek contributed 11 points.

The Colonials 34 percent shooting performance was its worst of the season and just the third time they had been held under 40 percent.

 

The Kansas State Wildcats women’s basketball team concluded its 2013 nonconference schedule on Monday evening with a 74-42 win over UC Riverside. The win came in the consolation game of the Surf & Slam Classic in San Diego.

K-State ( 6-5 ) was led by freshman guard Leticia Romero with 16 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. Romero also added five rebounds and three seals.

Joining Romero in double figures for Kansas State were freshman forward Jessica Sheble with 11 points.

UC Riveride ( 4-9 ) was paced by Annelise Ito with 15 points, five rebounds, and three assists.

The Wildcats host Baylor at 7 p.m. Thursday at Bramlage Coliseum.

Two Kansas State Wildcats, Ross Kivett and Jake Matthys have been named Louisville Slugger Preseason All-Americans by Collegiate Baseball newspaper. Kivett was named to the First Team while Matthys was selected to the Third Team as a relief pitcher.

Kivett is coming off a 2013 season in which he helped K-State win a Big 12 title and reach the program’s first Super Regional.

Matthys was named a Freshman All-American last season by Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America, and Big 12 Freshman of the Year last season.

Kivett and Matthys are two of the 19 returning players from last year’s Big 12 champion K-State team. The Wildcats open their season on Feb. 14 at Cal Poly.

 

SAN DIEGO (AP) – Nick Novak kicked a 36-yard field goal with 5:30 left in overtime and the San Diego Chargers, who trailed by 10 points in the fourth quarter, beat the Kansas Chiefs 27-24 to claim the AFC’s final playoff spot.

The Chargers (9-7) ended a three-year postseason drought. The winning drive was kept alive by a 2-yard gain by Pro Bowl safety Eric Weddle on a fake punt on fourth-and-2 from the Chargers 28. The game ended when Kansas City couldn’t convert on fourth-and-15 from the San Diego 41 with 3:16 left.

With the Chargers on the verge of an embarrassing collapse against a team resting 20 of 22 starters, Philip Rivers threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Eddie Royal early in the fourth quarter and Novak kicked a 22-yard field goal to tie it.

Kansas City kicker Ryan Succop was wide right on a potential game-winning, 41-yard field goal try with 4 seconds left in regulation.

Shane Southwell had 19 points as the Kansas State Wildcats rolled past Tulane 72-41 on Saturday.

The win for the Wildcats came in the Brooklyn Winter Hoops Festival at the Barclays Center.

K-State ( 9-3 ), held Tulane to a season-low 41 points on 28.6% shooting.

Nigel Johnson scored 13 points for the Wildcats, and Wesley Iwundu had nine points. Marcus Gipson led the Wildcats on the boards with seven rebounds.

Kansas State will host George Washington ( 11-1 ) at two p-m Tuesday at Bramlage Coliseum.

Jake Waters and Tyler Lockett hooked up on three touchdown passes in the first half and Kansas State went on to defeat the Michigan Wolverines Saturday night in the BuffaloWild Wings Bowl 31-14. The win ended a five game bowl losing streak for Kansas State.

The K-State defense held Michigan to just two field goals before finally giving up a touchdown in the final two minutes of the ballgame.

Kansas State used time consuming drives on their first three possessions in the first half with each one ending in a Wildcat touchdown. They led the Wolverines 21-6 at halftime.

There was no scoring in the third quarter as the Wildcat defense held Michigan to just 23 total yards in the third quarter.

Michigan played freshman Shane Morris at quarterback in place of injured Devin Gardiner. Morris completed 24 of 38 passes for 196 yards and one interception.

Lockett finished with game with 10 catches for 116 yards, while Waters completed 21 of 27 passes for 271 yards.  The Wildcat offense finished the night with 420 total yards.

The bowl win was the first for Kansas State since a 2002 victory over Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl.

For Kansas State this was their second consecutive appearance in the Valley of the Sun in the Phoenix, Arizona area. They fell to Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl last year.  It was their third appearance in what is now called the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. The Wildcats defeated Wyoming for the first bowl victory of the Bill Snyder era when it was called the Copper Bowl, and later lost to Syracuse when it was called the Insight.com Bowl.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Eight Chiefs players are going to the Pro Bowl after helping the team improve from 2-14 last season to 11-5 this year heading into Sunday’s regular-season finale in San Diego. The NFL announced last night that Kansas City will be represented by running back Jamaal Charles, left tackle Branden Albert, safety Eric Berry, cornerback Brandon Flowers, defensive tackle Dontari Poe, linebackers Justin Houston and Tamba Hali, and punt returner Dexter McCluster.

The Kansas State Wildcats go for their first bowl win since 2002 when they play the Michigan Wolverines Saturday night in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.

The game kicks off at 9:15 p.m. CT in Tempe, AZ.

K-State quarterback Daniel Sams made it clear this week. The game is a top priority for the Wildcats. “Coach Snyder has been stressing this is a business trip before we even left Manhattan. Just stay focused on the task at hand, which is winning the bowl game. ” Sams added Arizona is a beautiful place and sometimes they can lose focus. “But when we are on that practice field it’s all about beating Michigan. ”

Both teams finished the regular season with records of 7-5.

Michigan coach Brady Hoke addressed the play of the Kansas State special teams. “Tyler Lockett impresses you an awful lot when you look at the returns that he’s been able to have.  They blocked five kicks this year. I think three of them were PAT’s,  one of them a field goal, and one of them a punt  against Baylor. Very sound and aggressive in what they do.”

Hoke noted Michigan has a lot of respect for the Wildcats, and always have for a Bill Snyder coached team. “I know Coach is 17-0 when they’ve scored a non-offensive touchdown some way, some how, so that’s a big part of it.”

As for Snyder he is preparing his team to face a new starting quarterback for Michigan, freshman Shane Morris. He is filling in for injured starter Devin Gardiner.

Concerning any tendencies Morris might have Snyder said, “I don’t know that we could define tendencies based on any of the information that we have. Just the fact that he’s left-handed as opposed to being right-handed. That alters some things for us to a certain degree.” Snyder added there is now way he could guess how Morris might be used by Michigan. “You have to prepare for their offense. He is a part of it, but there’s ten other guys that are pretty effective players that will certainly be actively involved in their offensive plan.”

Kansas State’s last bowl victory came over Arizona State in the 2002 Holiday Bowl.

The Wildcats and Wolverines have never met in football.

The ballgame Saturday night can be heard on KJCK AM, The Talk of JC.

Kansas State ( 8-3 ) returns from its holiday break on Saturday to play Tulane ( 7-6 ) as part of a tripleheader in the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival at the Barclays Center at 4 p.m. CT. The arena is the home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and NHL’s New York Islanders.

The Wildcats and green Wave will play the second game of the festival with St. John’s and Columbia tipping off first at 1:30 p.m. CT, and VCU and Boston College capping the event at 6:30 p.m. CT.

This will be Kansas State’s first game in Brooklyn in more than 63 years, since playing a five-game series with Long Island and Famed head coach Clair Bee from 1948 to 1951. The last of those match-ups came in Brooklyn on Dec. 2, 1950 – a 60-59 LIU win.

This will be the fourth meeting between K-State and Tulane, and the first since the Green Wave defeated the Wildcats 55-53 in the 1993 NCAA South Regional First Round.