Kansas State at Texas Tech: Open Game Thread

Coming fresh of a strong week for both teams, the Kansas State Wildcats and the Texas Tech Red Raiders face off tonight at the United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, TX.

Tech’s week included a very surprising overtime win at home against then-#7 West Virginia, and the Red Raiders remain undefeated at home this season. They have also lost both road games in Big 12 play this season, at Iowa State two weeks ago and at Kansas last weekend. Under first-year head coach Chris Beard, Tech is running a similar-style motion offense to the one employed during Bob Knight’s stint in Lubbock. Texas Tech has 4 players averaging in double figures so far this season, led by junior guard Keenan Evans (13.6 ppg), who is shooting 48.1 percent from the field. He is joined by graduate transfer forward Anthony Livingston (12.5 ppg), junior forward Zach Smith (12.4 ppg), and senior forward Aaron Ross who is averaging 11.4 ppg off the bench.

The last week for the Wildcats included an impressive showing in a last-second loss against Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse, and a fairly dominant victory at home against Oklahoma. On the strength of last week, the Wildcats are ranked in the AP Top 25, at #25, for the first time since 2014. K-State is the only Big 12 team to have all 5 starters averaging in double figures, and the lone school with 5 double-digit scorers. Overall this season, the Wildcats have had six different leading scorers with five of those players tallying at least nine double-figure scoring games, led by sophomore Barry Brown’s 12. Brown has finally been supplanted as the season’s leading scorer, as Wesley Iwundu moved into the top spot with a 12.5 ppg average over Brown’s 12.3 ppg average. In conference games Dean Wade still paces the team with his 16.7 ppg average, but Iwundu is hot on his heels at 16.3 ppg in league play.

History favors the Red Raiders tonight, as the Wildcats have lost the last two in Lubbock, and Texas Tech holds an 8-4 home record against K-State in Big 12 games. But the last time the Wildcats beat the Red Raiders was also the last season that saw the Wildcats ranked.

The game, slated for an 8:15pm CT tip, will be broadcast on ESPNNews, with Dave Armstrong (play-by-play) and Bryndon Manzer (analyst) on the call, and streaming may be available to you (depending on your location and provider/package) at WatchESPN.com. Audio, as always, is available on the K-State Sports Network (Sirius 83/XM 199 (Texas Tech broadcast)) and streaming online at K-StateSports.com.

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

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

Texas Tech
G: #2 Devon Thomas
G: #12 Keenan Evans
F: #5 Justin Gray
F: #11 Zach Smith
F: #21 Anthony Livingston

Go Cats!!