Klein back at K-State?

Football

As we reported a couple of hours ago, it looks like Collin Klein will be returning to the sidelines in Manhattan. Currently an assistant at Northern Iowa, Klein will probably replace co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Del Miller who has decided to retire (Kellis Robinett, Wichita Eagle).

Jake Trotter of ESPN has also picked up the story since it was first broken by Tim Fitzgerald at GoPowercat.com.

There may be other movement within the coaching staff in the near future. We’ll keep you posted.

Men’s Basketball

Well, that game was fun in an entirely not fun sort of way.

The absence of D.J. Johnson made #13/14 West Virginia too high a mountain for Kansas State to scale, and the Wildcats lost 85-66 after leading by a large margin in the first half and going into the second period tied at 34-34.

Johnson’s absence was a clear loss as he may have been this team’s missing spark all along (Ken Corbitt, Topeka Capital-Journal).

Forced to change his lineup at the last minute, Bruce Weber went small, and at first, it worked. Stokes and Xavier Sneed both ended up in foul trouble and West Virginia outdid Kansas State in rebounds and in the paint. The turnover margin too was clearly in the Mountaineers’ favor (Robinett, Eagle).

Next up, the Wildcats will try to regroup as the team returns to Bramlage Coliseum to take on Iowa State on Wednesday night.

Women’s Basketball

The women had themselves a day yesterday. Getting revenge for a loss earlier this season, the Wildcats beat Iowa State 80-68 behind some key contributions from the bench.

Kindred Wesemann and Lanie Page led the scoring with 17 and 16 points respectively. Eternati Willock was also in double figures with 11 points, as was Kayla Middlebrook. The Kansas State bench accounted for 39 points, the highest total since a 43-point tally against Florida Atlantic in December 2015.

The Cyclones raced out to an early lead, but a strong first-quarter run by the Wildcats lead to a 17-16 lead at the end of the quarter. This pattern continued through the first half with the lead exchanged seven times. But ultimately, Kansas State came on strong in the second half and ended the game on an 8-0 run that sealed the victory.

Up next, the Wildcats will travel to Morgantown to take on West Virginia on Wednesday night.

Track and Field

The track and field teams split up this weekend to participate in two separate events: the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas and the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa.

In Fayetteville, Shardia Lawrence broke the school triple jump record with a leap of 13.75m. The previous record of 13.65m was held by Chaytan Hill who set the mark at the Big 12 Championships in 2004. For her efforts, Lawrence took second place in the triple jump event.

Meanwhile, in Ames, a number of Kansas State athletes set new personal bests and a couple of purple athletes also won first places. Christoff Bryan took first in the high jump with a mark of 2.20m, while Brett Neely finished fourth in the shot put.

Up next, the Wildcats are back home for the Steve Miller Open, which will be the final event before the Big 12 Championship meet.