Kansas State Wildcats (18-9, 6-6) AT Nebraska Cornhuskers (18-8, 6-6)
Devaney Sports Center — Lincoln, Neb.
Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011 — 8 PM CST
ESPNU | ESPN Full Court | ESPN3.com
BOTC's newest contributor, Ahearn Alley, already wrote an excellent and thorough game preview here, so I won't even try to reinvent the wheel in this limited space.
Clearly, the winner of this game will have a leg up on finishing at least in fifth place in the Big 12, although later games obviously will have some say in that, as well.
Can the Cats get the sweep for the second straight year? Or will they fall in their final trip to Lincoln as they have so many other years in the past decade?
You can read my preview of Nebrasketball 2010-11 here, relive our surprise at K-State's efficient play in the first game here or chat with Husker fans at Corn Nation.
Predictions:
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BracketCat: Nebraska 71, Kansas State 67
GAMER: Nebraska 74, Kansas State 68
Pomeroy: Nebraska 65, Kansas State 62
Sagarin: Nebraska 73, Kansas State 72
From the K-State Sports Information Department:
Kansas State (18-9, 6-6 Big 12) hits the road tonight for a pivotal match-up against a red-hot Nebraska (18-8, 6-6) squad at Devaney Sports Center at 8 p.m. CT.
Both teams are coming off monumental wins over No. 1 Kansas and No. 2 Texas in the past week, with the Wildcats winning four of their last five games and the Huskers three in a row.
The two are tied, along with Baylor, for fifth place in the Big 12 standings with identical 6-6 records, just two games behind third-place Texas A&M (21-5, 8-4) and one game behind fourth-place Missouri (21-6, 7-5), with four league games remaining in the regular season.
Only the top four seeds will receive a bye at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on March 9-12 at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., with K-State earning the distinction in each of the last four seasons.
The contest will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU, with Dan McLaughlin (play-by-play) and Kara Lawson (analyst) on the call.
It also will be available nationally on ESPN Full Court, as well as on the Internet at ESPN3.com.
Fans can listen to the "Voice of the Wildcats," Wyatt Thompson, and analyst Stan Weber throughout the 33-station K-State Sports Network, as well as free of charge online at www.k-statesports.com.
Wednesday’s contest also begins a difficult stretch for Kansas State to wrap up the regular season, as the squad faces fourth-place Missouri at home Saturday before a trip to league-leading No. 5 Texas (24-4, 11-1) on Monday night at Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.
The squad will conclude the regular season with a home game against Iowa State (14-13, 1-11) on March 5.
It has won 12 of its last 13 games in February, which included a 10-game winning streak between the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
The game also will mark the 219th and final meeting between K-State and Nebraska as conference foes, which spanned five different league affiliations — Missouri Valley, Big Six, Big Seven, Big Eight and Big 12 — and dates back to 1906.
The Wildcats lead the all-time series 125-93, including a 69-53 win in Manhattan on Feb. 2.
The squad has won four consecutive games in the series, including a season sweep of the Huskers a season ago for the first time since 2003-04.
The four-game winning streak is the longest since the team won six in a row from 1987 to 1989.
Nebraska owns a 55-37 mark in games played in Lincoln, including four wins in the last six meetings.
The Wildcats were stellar defensively in the first meeting at home, holding the Huskers to an opponent's season low for points (53) on 44.2-percent shooting.
They converted 22 turnovers into 21 points to earn their 18th win at Bramlage Coliseum in the series.
Seniors Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly combined for 34 of the team’s 69 points, while sophomore Rodney McGruder added 10 points.