Kansas State vs McNeese State: Open Game Thread

Fresh off an important road victory, the Kansas State Wildcats return to Bramlage to get back to a true cupcake before the Christmas break.

And let’s face it, despite three wins on their schedule, and a preseason ranking of 5th (out of 8) in the Southland, the Cowboys of McNeese State are not very good. Their best, and only NCAA D1 win is over perennial bottom-feeder St. Francis Brooklyn (who I had never even heard of before and had to Google them to even discover they are NCAA D1). Their other two wins are over NCCAA, yes National Christian College Athletic Association, teams Carver College (who is D1), and Champion College (who is D2, and isn’t better than the other college team in Manhattan, KS (Roll Thunder)). They would have had a chance for one more win over an NCCAA D2 school this past weekend, but Dallas Christian had to cancel due to COVID issues.

This is a team the Wildcats should be able to hold under 60, maybe even 50, points, while Bruce should still be able to work with lineups and get the walk-ons some action.

Tonight’s game from Bramlage Coliseum tips at 7:01pm 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 390 and also available online on the The Varsity Network app and at K-StateSports.com.

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State Wildcats (7-3)

G: #00 Mike McGuirl
G: #1 Markquis Nowell
G: #24 Nijel Pack
F: #25 Ismael [Ish] Massoud
F: #20 Kaosi Ezeagu

McNeese State Cowboys (3-8)

G: #0 Trae English
G: #15 Zach Scott
F: #5 Myles Lewis
F: #12 Kellon Taylor
C: #35 Brendan Medley-Bacon

Go Cats!