Two teams in the middle of the Big 12 standings faceoff late Saturday night when the Kansas State Wildcats (15-8, 5-5 Big 12) travel to take on the #21 BYU Cougars (16-6, 4-5 Big 12). Kansas State just took down rival Kansas 75-70 in overtime, winning outright as 3.5-point underdogs. BYU is coming off a road loss in Oklahoma, going down to the Sooners 82-66 as 2.5-point underdogs. This is the first of two matchups between these teams this season, and they did not meet last year as BYU was not yet in the Big 12. Tipoff is scheduled for 10:00 EST from the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah and can be found on ESPN2.
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The Kansas State Wildcats were on a four game losing streak heading into their last matchup with #4 Kansas. K-State bounced back strong, and showed resilience to fight back as they were down 41-30 early in the second half but battled back to force overtime and grab a win. The Wildcats made six more three pointers, and attempted ten more free throws than the Jayhawks. Guard Tylor Perry had 26 points and five rebounds in the win.
Slice & nice ??#KStateMBB x @TimarPerry pic.twitter.com/3hmQZJWtAF
— K-State Men's Basketball (@KStateMBB) February 9, 2024
Kansas State is led by two scoring guards and a versatile do-it-all forward. They are led in scoring by 6'3 junior Cam Carter with 16.0 PPG, he also grabs 5.0 RPG and dishes out 2.8 APG. Carter played well in the win over Kansas, he had a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Tylor Perry had the big game against Kansas, he is a 5'11 senior averaging 15.1 PPG. Perry is the top playmaker on the team with 4.8 APG, and is the top shooter with 63 made threes on 32.5% shooting from deep. Arthur Kaluma is their best player in the frontcourt, he is a 6'7, 225-pound junior averaging 14.4 PPG and 7.1 RPG. He had 13 points and eight rebounds last time out against Kansas. There is a sharp drop in scoring after their top three, next up is Will McNair Jr. a 6'11, 265-pound senior averaging 7.4 PPG and 5.2 RPG.
Kansas State is currently ranked 72nd overall according to KenPom. They are much better on defense, where they rank 23 rd in efficiency, while their offense ranks 158th in efficiency. K-State plays slow offensively, they rank 233rd in tempo. The Big 12 is projected to get ten teams into the NCAA Tournament according to Bracketology, but Kansas State still has more work to do as they are not yet in the field.
Injury Report: None listed that would impact the depth chart.