Big 12 Tournament - Kansas State vs TCU: Open Game Thread

Welcome back to the Big 12 Tournament. It was this matchup, 364 days ago, that became the final game the Big 12 Tournament and one of the last college basketball games in the nation as the country began to shut down due to the COVID pandemic.

Last year, the Wildcats beat the Horned Frogs for the third straight year in the tournament. Coming off an abysmal season, K-State was the 10-seed and TCU the 7-seed. The Cats had just come off a win over Iowa State on senior night — only their third conference win of the season — but had gotten swept by the Frogs in regular season play. And then the Wildcats shocked the conference world by beating TCU 53-49 to advance to play 2-seed Baylor, a game that never got to happen.

So fast forward almost a year. K-State is coming off an abysmal season. But this time the Wildcats are the 9-seed, having won four conference games, including a win over TCU in Ft. Worth two and a half weeks ago. These WeberCats have won three of their last four — including a win over Iowa State in the last regular season game of the year — to come into the tournament with a bit more momentum than last year’s squad. If the Wildcats continue to play like they did over the final four game stretch, they can win this game. But we know this team is still only one stumble from yet another loss.

Oh, and like last year, the winner of today’s game gets the opportunity to lose to play 1-seed Baylor in the next round. It’s funny how all that worked out.

We open the Big 12 Tournament tonight, with a 5:33pm CT start from The Sprint T-Mobile Center that can be seen on ESPN with Bob Wischusen (play-by-play) and Fran Fraschilla (analyst) on the call. You might be able to stream the game via WatchESPN if the game isn’t blocked in your area.

If you don’t get ESPN, or can’t access the stream, you can listen to Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play) and Stan Weber (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 199.

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State Wildcats (8-19)

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

TCU Horned Frogs (12-13, 5-11 Big 12)

G: #1 Mike Miles
G: #22 R.J. Nembhard
G: #4 P.J. Fuller
F: #5 Chuck O’Bannon
C: #21 Kevin Samuel

Go Cats!