Kansas State vs North Dakota State: Open Game Thread

Welcome to the official start of the Defending Big 12 Champions Kansas State men’s basketball 2019-2020 season.

The Wildcats ended the 2018-19 regular season with a full share of the conference crown, but finished post-season play far too early after losing Dean Wade to injury. The 2019-20 Wildcats return a strong group from that Big 12 Title run, a group that has a sour taste left after how the season ultimately finished. Xavier Sneed and Cartier Diarra lead a group that was infused with some very high-potential newcomers during the off-season, and will be looking to reload, not rebuild.

That journey starts tonight, with a visit for the North Dakota State Bison, last year’s Summit League champs, and the preseason favorite to win the league again. The Bison ended their season the same way the Wildcats did, with a loss in the Round of 64 in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, but did so as a 16-seed facing top-seeded Duke. The Bison also return a strong core from that tournament team, and, like the Wildcats, will be looking to keep building on that success in 2019-20.

This will be a tough early test for the Wildcats, lets hope they are ready.

We’re kicking things off early this year, with the November 5th tip off the earliest start to a season for the Wildcats in it’s long history (h/t Luke Thompson). Be sure an head over to the How to Watch post for info on catching tonight’s game, including info on signing up for ESPN+.

Tonight’s game, scheduled for a 7:02pm CST tip, can be see on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ with Ben Boyle (play-by-play), Stan Weber (analyst), and Bridget Howard (sidelines) on the call. If you haven’t signed up for ESPN+ yet (which you probably should, just may sure you click the link in the H2W post, pretty please), you can listen to Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play) and Matt Walters (analyst) call the game on much of the K-State Sports Radio Network, and also available online via the TuneIn App and at K-StateSports.com.

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State Wildcats

G: #00 Mike McGuirl
G: #2 Cartier Diarra
G/F: #20 Xavier Sneed
F: #34 Levi Stockard III
F: #14 Makol Mawien

North Dakota State Bison

G: #0 Vinnie Shahid
G: #11 Jared Samuelson
G: #24 Tyson Ward
F: #5 Sam Griesel
F: #34 Rocky Kreuser

Go Cats!