Football

After a rather upsetting beatdown courtesy of the West Virginia Mountaineers, some reinforcements may be on the way for the Kansas State Wildcat Football team according to offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham and defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman.

The two Wildcat assistants sat down with media members (over Zoom of course…) on Thursday afternoon and told that two key contributors on opposite ends of the ball may be making their way out on the field for K-State’s game at home versus the No. 14 Oklahoma State Cowboys. On the offensive side, Messingham indicated that senior tight end Briley Moore may be a game-time decision after getting hurt midway through the West Virginia game while Klanderman said that senior defensive back A.J. Parker Jr. has practiced this week and will also be a game-time decision after suffering an ankle injury two weeks ago in K-State’s win over Kansas.

Needless to say, having one or both of those guys back will greatly improve the Wildcats’ chance of getting a bounce-back upset win over an Oklahoma State team that is also coming off a disappointing loss to Texas.

Saturday’s game will kick off at 3 p.m. and will be televised on Fox. For a really good preview of the match-up, be sure to listen to this week’s Bring on the PodCats with Luke and JT. They welcome Cowboys Ride Free editor-in-chief Micah Allen to break down Oklahoma State.

Men’s Basketball

On Thursday afternoon, the K-State Men’s Basketball team confirmed that they will take on the Butler Bulldogs in the Big 12/Big East Battle at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Friday, Dec. 11.

The game will be a highlight on a non-conference schedule without a lot of pop thanks in part to the pandemic and will feature just the second match-up in history between the Cats and Butler with the first coming memorably and sadly in K-State’s Elite-Eight loss to the then-Cinderella Bulldogs led by now-Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens and Celtics injury-prone forward Gordon Hayward.

Butler had a solid 22-9 record last season and were well in line to receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament before Covid-19 canceled the season back in March. They lose their top scorer from last year in Kamar Baldwin but retain two players (Bryce Nze and Bryce Golden) who started all 31 games in the 2019-20 season.

Women’s Basketball

Some minor schedule shake-ups were announced for the Lady Cats on Thursday. The team received a special waiver from the NCAA to play their exhibition game versus Fort Hays State in Hays at Gross Memorial Coliseum.

K-State has played the Lady Tigers countless times in the program’s existence but the Nov. 25 game will mark the first time since 1976 that the teams will play in Hays. The K-State women played Fort Hays in Hays as part of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women which broke ground as the first governing association for women’s collegiate sports before the NCAA officially sanctioned women’s sports. The first Division 1 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament took place in 1981.

The Lady Cats also announced that their season-opener versus Nebraska-Omaha on Dec. 12 was moved from Omaha back home to Manhattan due to a scheduling conflict with UNO’s arena.

Volleyball

After a scary split last Halloween weekend in the Sunflower Showdown, the No. 11 Volleycats wrap up their four match road swing with a trip to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech (3-7).

Tech is in the middle of a four-match losing streak and K-State’s Aliyah Carter is coming off of two straight Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors.

Match one is scheduled for 3 p.m. today and the second is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday. K-State’s second match will be televised on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ so it’s set up perfectly for a Wildcat double feature with K-State football playing later that afternoon.

Cross Country/Track

The Manhattan Mercury reported a major outbreak of Covid-19 amongst members of the K-State cross country and track and field teams. So far, the Mercury has been able to confirm that “double-digit” players have the virus after attending a Halloween Party over the weekend.

The cross country season ended on Friday at the Big 12 Championship meet in Lawrence where the men took fourth and the women fifth. The indoor track season is set to begin on December 4.

Soccer

K-State soccer (2-6) made program history last week after beating Iowa State 3-2 for their second Big 12 win of the season, giving them their first two-win conference season ever. Friday evening, the Wildcats will aim for more history when they host Texas Tech (1-4-2) to close out the season with a shot at three Big 12 wins.

K-State’s Shae Turner and Alaina Werremeyer earned Big 12 defensive and freshman player of the week honors respectively and senior Brookelynn Entz was named to two national teams of the week after scoring two goals in the Iowa State win.

You can catch the match on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ tonight at 7 p.m.

Tennis

Wildcat tennis will wrap up their 2020 fall season at the OSU Fall Series Championship in Stillwater starting on Friday.

The field will include host Oklahoma State along with Big 12 foes Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma, TCU and Texas Tech.