Kansas State vs Omaha: Open Game Thread

Welcome back to basketball, Wildcat fans. We hope your Christmas break was safe and enjoyable, and you got all the things you wanted from Santa Claus.

The Wildcats will be hoping that Santa will grant a wish for them: keep up their winning ways. After an exceptionally rough start to the season, the WeberCats have won three of their last four games, with their only loss a blow-out to Big 12-favorite Baylor (who is destroying everybody). Sure, that run included home wins over Milwaukee and Jacksonville, but it also included a win over Iowa State in Ames, so the Cats have already guaranteed that they won’t go win-less in conference play this season.

They get one more tune-up play before the rest of conference play starts, tonight against the Mavericks from Omaha (University of Nebraska-Omaha). The Mavs have palyed a tough schedule to start, including games against Top 10 foes Creighton and Kansas, as well as previous Wildcat opponent Colorado. The Mavs two wins have come by a combined three points, against Middle Tennessee State (KP #199) back in November, and SIU-Edwardsville (KP #320) in early December.

This is a team the Wildcats should roll over today. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

We’re back in primetime tonight from Bramlage today with a 7:01pm CT start that can be seen on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ with Ben Boyle (play-by-play) and Stan Weber (analyst) on the call. Crowd may be even sparser that usual tonight, as winter weather descended over the Manhattan region this morning and hasn’t let up yet (mostly rain, but that means lots of ice).

If you haven’t subscribed to ESPN+ (and you can do so right here), 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, and satellite radio on XM 382.

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State Wildcats (4-5)

G: #24 Nijel Pack
G: #00 Mike McGuirl
G: #2 Selton Miguel
G: #3 DaJuan Gordon
F: #21 Davion Bradford

Omaha Mavericks (2-7)

G: #0 Sam’i Roe
G: #10 Ayo Akinwole
G/F: #23 Marlon Ruffin
F: #13 Wanjang Tut
F: #40 Matt Pile

Go Cats!

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