It’s a jam-packed Wildcat Saturday, with several purple teams in action. The day began bright an early in Oklahoma City as the rowers will face off in scrimmages throughout the day against conference foe Oklahoma. But that’s not really what you are here for.

Women’s Basketball

The Wildcat women begin the round-ball action at 11am at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City to open the second round of the Big 12 tournament. The Cats enter the 2017 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship as the 4-seed, the highest seed for the Cats since the 2010-11 season. The Cats, led by All-Big 12 First Team selections Breanna Lewis and Kinred Wesemann, will be looking to improve to 2-1 over the Cyclones this season, splitting home contests, and advance in the Big 12 tournament for the 15th time.

Saturday morning’s game will be broadcast on FSN, with Ron Thulin (play-by-play) and Brenda VanLengen (analyst) on the call, and streaming may be available to you on FoxSportsGo.com. Audio will be available on select parts of the K-State Sports Network as well as online at K-StateSports.com, with Brian Smoller (play-by-play) and Kristin Waller (analyst) calling the action there.

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State
G: #24 Kindred Wesemann
G: #21 Karyla Middlebrook
F: #50 Shaelyn Martin
F: #11 Peyton Williams
F: #22 Breanna Lewis

Iowa State
G: #3 Emily Durr
G: #11 Jadda Buckley
G: #12 Seanna Johnson
F: #21 Bridget Carleton
F: #32 Meredith Burkhall

Men’s Basketball

The men are also up early today, with Senior Day (and Lego Day at Bramlage) beginning at about what should be halftime of the women’s game.

This is a big final regular season game for the Kansas State Wildcats with several things on the line. First up, a win would give the Cats the 6th seed in next week’s Big 12 Tournament, and a first round bye for the first time since 2014. Second, it would give the Cats their most wins in a season since that same 2013-14 season. Third, it would keep the Cats on the positive side of the bubble and keep them in discussion for their first NCAA Tournament appearance since, you guessed it, the 2013-14 season. Apparently the last two years have been bad...who knew?

The Wildcats will need another set of big performances from Dean Wade (the Cats are 11-5 this season when Wade hits double-figures), Wesley Iwundu, and D.J. Johnson, who hit clutch free throws down the stretch to fend of TCU late last Wednesday night.

This will be the final home and regular season game for seniors Johnson, Iwundu, Carlbe Ervin, Austin Budke, and Zach Winter. But, as usual, we will not see an all-senior starting lineup, as Coach Weber said he will keep the same starting lineup as always and hopes (gosh, he really likes that word) to get the rest of the seniors involved at the end of the game.

Today’s game is slated for an 12:01pm CT tip and will be broadcast on ESPNNews with Mitch Holthus (play-by-play) and Bryndon Manzer (analyst) on the call. 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 132/XM 199) and streaming online at K-StateSports.com with the venerable Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play) and Stan Weber (analyst) calling the game.

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

Texas Tech
G: #5 Justin Gray
G: #10 Niem Stevenson
G: #12 Keenan Evans
F: #11 Zach Smith
F: #15 Aaron Ross

Baseball

The BatCats opened their home-opening series with a blast on Friday, as the Cats scored multiple runs in three innings, and runs in five total, to beat Eastern Illinois 15-10. The Cats were led by big home runs from Quintin Crandall, Grant Reuben, and Jake Scudder, as well as several multi-RBI performances. Crandall and Reuben hit their homers back-to-back, and was the first time Wildcats had accomplished that feat since Jared King and Wade Hinkle did so against Kansas back on May 13, 2012. Crandall and Josh Rolette have each reached base safely in all nine K-State games this season, with Crandall’s streak now at 17 games dating back to last season, and Crandall is also the only Cat to hit safely in every game this season.

The Cats begin game two of the series at 3pm CT at Tointon Family Stadium with Junior Justin Heskett taking the mound for the Cats. This afternoon’s game, as will all games of the series, will be broadcast on K-StateHD.TV with Matt Walters (play-by-play) and Blair DeBord (analyst) calling the action. Audio of the broadcast can be heard locally at KMAN 1350 AM and 93.3 FM and streaming free online at K-StateSports.com. Tickets are only $3 with a men’s or women’s basketball ticket, and hot dogs are $1 all weekend.

Go Cats!!