Kansas State vs Emporia State: Exhibition Open Game Thread

Welcome back, Wildcat basketball fans. It’s time for basketball season again!

It’s no shame if you were surprised — amidst homecoming, football, and about a thousand other things going on this fall, basketball season kind of sneaked up on us. But we’re here now, and your Defending Big 12 Champion Kansas State Wildcats are back and ready to go. If you’re going to the game, be sure and get there early for the Big 12 Championship banner raising!

Well, the season hasn’t actually started — it’s still just exhibition play — but it’s the return of basketball, and our first chance to see what the Wildcats look like without the Big Three of Dean Wade, Barry Brown Jr., and Kamau Stokes. It’s going to look different, it’s hard to lose a group like that and just carry on like nothing happened, but it’s not like the cupboard is as bare as when those three first arrived on campus.

The Defending Champs return three guys who were key pieces of that championship run in seniors Xavier Sneed and Makol Mawien, and junior Cartier Diarra. And while Diarra is just a junior, he and Sneed arrived on campus the same year, making him a senior by class just not eligibility. That group is re-joined by juniors Mike McGuirl and Levi Stockard, and sophomore Shaun “No more Neal” Williams, who were all solid bench players for the Cats during the title run. The Wildcats also received some highly-rated reinforcements over the summer, headlined by the freshman trio of DaJuan Gordon, Montavious Murphy, and Antonio Gordon, and joined by JUCO transfer (but former highly-rated HS recruit) David Sloan.

This could be the most talented team, top to bottom, that Bruce Weber has led during his time at K-State, now we just get to see what Weber and his staff can do with all that potential.

Tonight’s game, which is slated for an 8:02pm CDT tip-off, can be see on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ with Ben Boyle (play-by-play), Stan Weber (analyst), and Bridget Howard (sidelines) on the call. If you haven’t signed up for ESPN+ yet, 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 (though it’s a Friday night in October in Kansas, you may lose a bunch of stations to high school football), and also available online via the TuneIn App and at K-StateSports.com. Be sure an head over to Jon’s How To Watch post for more complete information.

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State Wildcats

G: #00 Mike McGuirl
G: #2 Cartier Diarra
G/F: #20 Xavier Sneed
F: #23 Montavious Murphy
F: #14 Makol Mawien

Emporia State Hornets

G: #12 Zac Owens
G: #13 Justin Williams
F: #1 Dallas Bailey
F: #24 Brenden Van Dyke
F: #30 Mason Thiessen

Go Cats!