Kansas State vs North Dakota: Open Game Thread

Well, the Kansas State Wildcats are still a work in progress. No surprise victories in Kansas City, and the Cats return to the friendly confines of Bramlage Colisuem at 2-2, and will look to get back above .500 on the season against the visiting North Dakota [REDACTED] Fighting Hawks.

The Wildcats showed some fight in KC, but fell in both games 72-64, both against ranked opponents. Selton Miguel and Nijel Pack are looking like consistent, legitimate weapons on offense, but they aren’t getting a ton of help from elsewhere right now. And defense has been suspect at times, especially in the paint where none of Kaosi Ezeagu, Davion Bradford, or Logan Landers have been able to really compete with other P5 post players, especially on defense. It’s going to be a very long season if that keeps up.

On the other side, North Dakota was picked to finish 9th in the 10-team Summit League (a spot behind the Omaha Mavericks), and have already dropped four games without yet playing a team from a power conference. They lost their home opener against Milwaukee before bouncing back with wins over Montana at home, and Troy in Florida, but their Florida road trip turned quickly sour with three straight losses in the Sunshine State.

This is a game the Wildcats should win easily, and should be a game where we see several minutes of walk-ons at the end of the game. Should, should.

This evening’s game from Bramlage Coliseum tips at 4:01pm CST and can be seen on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ with Ben Boyle (play-by-play), Stan Weber (analyst), and Katherine Benhardt (sideline reporter) on the call.

If you haven’t subscribed to ESPN+, or just don’t want to, 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, on XM Channel 375 and also available online on the The Varsity Network app and at K-StateSports.com.

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State Wildcats (2-2)

G: #3 Selton Miguel
G: #13 Mark Smith
G: #21 Nijel Pack
F: #25 Ismael [Ish] Massoud
F: #20 Kaosi Ezeagu

North Dakota Fighting Hawks (2-4)

G: #0 Caleb Nero
G: #2 Bentiu Panoam
G: #21 Ethan Igbanugo
F: #35 Mitchell Sueker
F: #10 Tsotne Tsartsidze