Kansas State at Oklahoma State: Open Game Thread

The Wildcats have come on here in the month of February. With last Monday’s victory over West Virginia, the Cats are sitting at 4-1 this month, with the sole loss to Baylor a couple weeks ago.

And that run started with a visit by Oklahoma State to Bramlage on Groundhog Day. That Wednesday night, the Cats were coming off a run of three-straight losses, including the loss to KU in Bramlage, the beatdown in Waco, and the frustrating loss at Ole Miss. Things looked extremely bleak.

But that day in February, thanks to a combined 43 points from Nijel Pack and Mark Smith, including a last-second deep 3pt make from Pack, the Wildcats were able to pull through with the victory and start the month off on the right foot. Three more wins later and the WeberCats have put themselves back into NCAA Tournament bubble discussion, which seemed like a pipe-dream just a few weeks ago.

But the Wildcats have to keep winning, and need to keep picking up high-value road wins to boost their resume. They’ve got three road games left, but the next two are at KU and at Tech, making today’s game critical to win if the Cats want to pick up a road win in their final five games.

It’s going to be tough, and the Pokes are still a good team despite their record. But if these “road dawgs” want to keep playing, they’re going to need to win today.

This afternoon’s game from Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater tips at 1:05pm CST and can be seen on ESPNU with Ted Emrich (play-by-play) and King McClure (analyst) on the call. The game should also be available streaming via WatchESPN, if you already have the correct TV subscription.

If you don’t get ESPNU, 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 on XM channel 389 and online on the The Varsity Network app and at K-StateSports.com.

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State Wildcats (14-11, 6-7 Big 12)

G: #00 Mike McGuirl
G: #1 Markquis Nowell
G: #13 Mark Smith
G: #24 Nijel Pack
C: #25 Davion Bradford

Oklahoma State Cowboys (12-13, 5-8 Big 12)

G: #00 Avery Anderson III
G: #1 Bryce Thompson
G: #13 Isaac Likekele
F: #23 Tyreek Smith
C: #33 Moussa Cisse

Go Cats!