K-State vs Robert Morris: Open Game Thread

Welcome to Tuesday evening Wildcat fans. Your Kansas State Wildcats men’s basketball team hosts Robert Morris this evening in the second opening round game of the Barclays Center Classic. Following tonight’s contest the Cats will head to Brooklyn for the semifinals of the tournament Nov. 25-26, joining Boston College, Maryland, and Richmond, and will take on Boston College on Friday at 6pm CST.

This is the first ever meeting between K-State and Robert Morris in men’s basketball. The Colonials enter tonight’s matchup at 0-4 on the season. Following their opening-season home loss to Penn, Robert Morris has been on the road and won’t get another game in Moon, PA (Pittsburgh) until a week from tomorrow. The Colonials are led by sophomore guard Isaiah Still, who is averaging a team-best 17.3 points/game, and senior guard Kavon Stewart is averaging 8.0 points to go with 4.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game. While based on the east coast, one player for the Colonials is familiar with Kansas as transfer Aaron Tate played at Dodge City Community College, and is the team’s leading rebounder at 7.5/game.

The Wildcats improved to 3-0 with an 89-67 win over Hampton on Sunday, as the Cats connected on a season-best 58.3 percent (28-of-48) from the field, including 52.2 percent (12-of-23) from 3-point range. The 12 triples tied for the most in the Bruce Weber era and were the most since also hitting 12 vs. Tulane on Dec. 28, 2013. The Cats have started with three consecutive 80-point games for the second year in a row, but haven’t accomplished the feat in the first four games since the 1976-77 season. The Cats have had four players score in double digits in each of the first three games for the first time since the 2011-12 season as Barry Brown, Wesley Iwundu and Kamau Stokes have each broken the decade mark in every game, and the trio and a friend will be looking to do so in four consecutive games for the first time since the 2009-10 squad had four go eight straight games . With Sunday’s win, Weber moved ahead of Lon Kruger on the K-State wins list, and with a win tonight will tie Jim Woolridge’s 83.

As usual, the game will be broadcast on FSN Kansas City (state of Kansas/Kansas City metro area) and ESPN3 (outside the state of Kansas), as well as available on K-StateHD.TV. Audio, as always, is available on the K-State Sports Network and streaming online at K-StateSports.com.

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State
G: #3 Kamau Stokes
G: #5 Barry Brown
G: #25 Wesley Iwundu
F: #32 Dean Wade
F: #4 D.J. Johnson

Hampton
G: #3 Kavon Stewart
G: #1 Isaiah Still
G: #11 Dachon Burke
F: #24 Aaron Tate
C: #5 Braden Burke

Go Cats!!