Sunflower Showdown

Football

The 113th edition of the Sunflower Showdown will kick off today at 11 AM CST. For the first time since 2007, both Kansas State and Kansas will come into the game having won the previous game and riding high on confidence (Ken Corbitt, Topeka Capital-Journal).

For all your rivalry game watching needs, here’s AMS with the HOW TO WATCH post and all your TV/radio/streaming details.

Today is Senior Day in Manhattan, and for this relatively small group of seniors including Dante Barnett, Charmeachelle Moore, and Deante Burton, it will be an emotional day, but finding motivation against Kansas should be relatively easy (Maria McIlwain, Manhattan Mercury).

There are 48 native Kansans on the roster for Kansas State (30 more than at Kansas), and 17 of them are starters. For those players, a regular season finale against hated rival Kansas has special meaning. This is particularly true for players like Burton, Terrale Johnson, and Winston Dimel who actually grew up in Manhattan and heard about the game all the time for years and years (Kellis Robinett, Wichita Eagle).

Yesterday, TB kicked the tires on Kansas, and to nobody’s surprise, picked the Wildcats to win big. Most other prognosticators agree with him, and give Kansas State the solid edge in this game (Capital-Journal).

Our brethren over at Rock Chalk Talk sat down for a Behind Enemy Lines Q&A with our own AMS, who diplomatically avoided saying the sort of things we usually say about Kansas. Pfft.

Oh, and hardly anybody at RCT is picking Kansas to win here, or even keep it close. I would feel bad for them, except they brought up EcoKat, so they deserve the proverbial carnage Bill Snyder is about to unleash on the Jayhawks.

Speaking of Snyder, you may not have heard yet, but he’s going for career win #200 today.

Men’s Basketball

A strong defensive showing helped the Kansas State men’s team power past Boston College to make the finals of the Barclays Classic in Brooklyn. The team had a season high in steals (13) and blocked shots (7) in the effort.

The Wildcats held BC to just 33.3% shooting and for the third game this season, Kansas State held an opponent to less than 60 points.

On offense, the team was slow out of the gate, but ultimately built up steam. This was thanks in part to a great effort from Xavier Sneed who came off the bench to score a team-leading 16 points and tied for the team-high with 8 rebounds. Barry Brown had 11 points, as did Dean Wade who also snagged 8 rebounds.

The Wildcats will take on No. 25 Maryland in the Barclays Classic title game tonight at 8:30 PM.

Women’s Basketball

Defense was also the strong suit for the Kansas State women’s team as they beat LSU 69-54 in the Island division of the 2016 Paradise Jam. This is the third 5-0 start for Jeff Mittie’s teams at Kansas State.

Kindred Wesemann had a game-high 24 points while Breanna Lewis went 4-of-4 from beyond the arc and Kaylee Page added nine points. This made up for a slow start where Kansas State only shot 33% in the first quarter and had eight turnovers. But the Wildcats moved into the lead in the second quarter and never looked back.

Kansas State will conclude action in the 2016 Paradise Jam on Saturday against UTEP at 2:15 p.m. (CT).

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Let’s do this, Wildcat Nation! Take no prisoners, avian or otherwise! Beat Kansas!