Kansas State vs Southeast Missouri State: Open Game Thread

Things could’ve gone worse in the Wildcats last outing. At least defensive pressure kept the game close, but the Kansas State Wildcats abysmally cold shooting led to a disappointing 61-54 loss to Tulsa in Wichita’s Intrust Bank Arena.

Last time out for the visitors was a different story. The SE Missouri St Redhawks took their show on the road and beat the Southern Illinois Salukis to the tun of 75-69. The Redhawks coming off a win over the Salukis could be a bad omen for K-State, considering the Wildcat coaching staff’s deep ties to the school in Carbondale. Also, SEMO put up 91 points in a win over UMKC (the Cats only mustered 72 against the ‘Roos earlier this season).

Now, based on actual comparison of the two teams, the Wildcats should win handily. But they will have to figure out how to get the 9.5-inch diameter ball through the 18-inch diameter hoop, something they showed particular lack of skill doing against Tulsa.

All we ask is that the men do what the women did earlier today. The Wildcat women picked up a 66-51 victory over Arkansas-Little Rick as sophomore center, and dual-sport star, Peyton Williams tossed in 25 points in 29 minutes, and hauled in seven rebounds in the victory. Freshman guard Rachel Ranke joined Williams in double-figures with 13, the only two Wildcats to break the double-digit points barrier, which broke Ranke’s recent three-game slump of non-double-digit games. Junior point-guard Kayla Goth should up with a double on the stat sheet, with 10 assists to only two turnovers (wowza); and senior guard/forward Shaeyln Martin grabbed 11 rebounds in the victory.

Tonight’s [men’s] game, scheduled for a 7:10pm CST tip-off, will be on FOX Sports Kansas City, K-StateHD.TV [free], and ESPN3 with Ben Boyle (play-by-play) and Stan Weber (analyst) on the call. Be sure and check out Jon Morse’s full How To Watch post for more details.

The game can be heard over-the-air on the K-State Sports Network with Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play) and Matt Walters (analyst) on the call (you can also listen online for free at TuneIn.com or at KStateSports.com). Satellite radio is available tonight on Sirius 93, XM 199, and “Internet” 953.

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State (8-2)
G: #3 Kamau Stokes
G: #5 Barry Brown Jr.
G: #20 Xavier Sneed
F: #32 Dean Wade
F: #14 Makol Mawien

SE Missouri State (6-4)
G: #2 Jonathan Dalton
G: #23 Daniel Simmons
G: #25 Ledarrius Brewer
G/F: #34 Denzel Mahoney
F: #4 Milos Vranes

Go Cats!