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Basketball
It wasn’t exactly the snoozer it should have been, but Kansas State dug themselves out of an early hole before going on to cruise to the finish for a 74-59 win over McNeese State on Tuesday. At one point, the WeberCats were down 26-17 in the first half, and things did not look good. But a second straight 18-2 run to end the first half, capped by a walk-off 3pt make from Mike McGuirl, put them up 35-28 at the intermission, and the Cats never looked back. The second half was much more one-sided, with the Wildcats pushing the lead to 10 with their first make after the break, and McNeese never got any closer. K-State even had a fairly commanding 74-53 lead with a minute to play, before two garbage-time 3’s from the Cowboys closed the final margin to 15.
Next up for K-State is, well, unknown at the moment. It was supposed to be Morgan State next week, but the Bears have been shut down for a couple weeks due to Covid issues, so K-State is currently looking to fill the spot on the schedule.
Also, in case you missed it, not women’s basketball game tonight, as the opponent, the Flames from Illinois-Chicago, had to cancel due to Covid issues with their program.
Football
Chris Klieman picked up a big win yesterday when Eli Huggins announced he would return for one more season, utilizing his “Covid year” to compete in a fifth season for the purple. Huggins came to K-State in 2017 after a solid prep career in Georgia, and redshirt his freshman season before working his way up to a reserve role in 2019, and a full-time starter in 2020 & 2021. Huggins decision to return helps keep continuity along the line, and means the coaching staff doesn’t need to fill that spot with a transfer to help bridge the gap to the younger players on the roster.
And in recruiting news, the Wildcats did pick up a couple of commitments from preferred-walk-ons on Wednesday, with K-State legacy Joe Hall III announcing he would be coming to K-State next season, as well as a very impressive grab of Derby offensive lineman Alex Key, who helped paved the way during the Panthers state championship run, and of course their star running back Dylan Edwards. Non-K-State recruiting experts from the region are very high on Key, and consider the Wildcats landing him without a scholarship to be a big win.