Welp, your Kansas State Wildcats are not longer undefeated. Whatever the cause, the team must now move on and be ready for the next opponent on the schedule, which happens to be the Green Bay Phoenix.
The Wildcats and the Phoenix actually have some little bit of history, playing a home-and-home set in 2001 and 2002. K-State won the first meeting, in 2001, but lost the return trip to Green Bay, WI, in 2002.
Green Bay enters tonights game with a 3-3 record after seeing a 2-game win streak end in a 89-77 home loss to Central Michigan last Saturday. Prior to the setback, the Phoenix defeated Bowling Green 77-61 and UMKC 95-77 in consecutive games. Green Bay returns 9 lettermen, including 3 starters, from a team that posted a 23-13 overall record and advanced to the 2016 NCAA Tournament after winning the Horizon League Tournament Championship. The Phoenix are averaging 78 ppg and have 4 players averaging in double figures, led by senior guard Charles Cooper who is averaging 13.5 ppg. He is joined by freshman guard Trevor Anderson, junior guard Khalil Small (who also leads the team in rebounding), and senior transfer guard Warren Jones in averaging double digits. These Phoenix can score in many ways.
K-State is coming off a last-second 69-68 loss to Maryland last Saturday evening. D.J. Johnson had a monster game and notched a career-best 26 points in the loss. He was joined in double figures Wesley Iwundu, who also notched a double-double with 16 points and a career-high 11 rebounds in the contest, Kamau Stokes, and, as usual in 2016, Barry Brown. Brown has now extended his double-digit streak to 6 games and is the team’s leading scorer. However, the team has struggled from the free throw line lately, and overall the Cats only sport a 61.8% FT percentage, and freshman Xavier Sneed currently leads the team (regulars anyway) with a 75% mark. Kamau Stokes is just above .500 right now, and Dean Wade is actually right at 40% on the season at the moment.
This game will be no pushover, and the Cats will need to play a complete game to avoid a home upset.
Back to normal (actual coverage on a real network(s)), 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
Green Bay
G: #3 Khalil Small
G: #12 Trevor Anderson
G: #34 Charles Cooper
F: #2 Turner Botz
C: #45 Kenneth Lowe
Go Cats!!