GAME 16

KANSAS STATE (12-3, 2-0 Big 12) at rv/rv TEXAS TECH (13-2, 2-0 Big 12)

Saturday, January 13, 2024 >> 3:05 p.m. CT >> United Supermarkets Arena (15,300) >> Lubbock, Texas

TELEVISION

Big 12 Now / WatchESPN (link here)

• Pete Sousa (play-by-play)
• King McClure (analyst)
• Alex Wheat (producer)

RADIO

K-State Sports Network

Flagships: // KMAN 1350 & WIBW 580

Satellite Radio: Ch. 389

Online: Varsity Network [free] / www.kstatesports.com/watch [free]

• Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play)
• Stan Weber (analyst)

LIVE STATS

kstatesports.com

kstate.statbroadcast.com

COACHES

K-State: Jerome Tang [Charter Oak State College ‘07]

Record at K-State: 38-13/Second Year

Career Record: 40-13*/Second Year

1. Texas Tech: 1-1 [0-1 on the road]

Texas Tech: Grant McCasland [Morningside ‘10]

Record at Texas Tech: 13-2/1st Year

Career Record: 223-91/10th Year

1. K-State: 0-0 [0-0 at home]

PROBABLE STARTERS

K-State (12-3, 2-0 Big 12)

G: #2 Tylor Perry

G: #5 Cam Carter

W: #24 Arthur Kaluma

W: #1 David N’Guessan

C: #15 Will McNair Jr.

Texas Tech (13-2, 2-0 Big 12)

G: #2 Pop Isaacs

G: #6 Joe Toussaint

G: #24 Kerwin Walton

F: #5 Darrion Williams

F: #22 Warren Washington

SERIES HISTORY

Overall: K-State leads 26-24

Big 12 Era: Texas Tech leads 21-19 [15-4 at home]

On the Road: Texas Tech leads 16-7

Active Streak: Texas Tech, 1

First Meeting: W, 89-70 [12/6/1955 in Manhattan]

Last Meeting: L, 71-63 [2/11/2023 in Lubbock]

Jerome Tang vs. Grant McCasland: First meeting

K-STATE CONCLUDES ROAD TRIP AT TEXAS TECH SATURDAY

Kansas State (12-3, 2-0 Big 12) concludes a 2-game road swing on Saturday, as the Wildcats travel to Texas Tech (13-2, 2-0 Big 12) for a 3 p.m., CT tipoff at the United Supermarket Arena. The matchup will be the first and only regular-season meeting between the schools, snapping a 12-year streak of playing home-and-home every year since the 2011-12 season.

The Red Raiders hold a narrow 21-19 lead in the series since the start of Big 12 play, but hold a dominant 15-4 record in Lubbock, including a 9-game win streak at the United Supermarkets Arena. The last Wildcat win in Lubbock came in a 60-56 victory on Feb. 25, 2014.

Storylines are abundant, most notably among the head coaches Jerome Tang and Grant McCasland, who will meet for the first time after spending 5 seasons on Scott Drew’s coaching staff at Baylor from 2011-16. The duo was apart of 125 wins at Baylor, including an Elite Eight in 2012 and NIT Championship in 2013. In addition, assistant coach Jareem Dowling and strength coach Phil Baier spent time working for McCasland at Arkansas State and North Texas, while senior Tylor Perry played 2 seasons (2021-23) for McCasland at North Texas.

KEY STORYLINES

• K-State enters Saturday’s game with 9 wins in its last 10 outings, including a 5-game winning streak from Nov. 22 to Dec. 9. Among their 12 wins are 3 Quad 2 victories (Villanova, Providence and LSU), while the 3 losses have all come to Quad 2 (USC, Miami and Nebraska) teams. The Wildcats are 6-7 in true road games under Jerome Tang, including 2-0 this season.
• K-State’s success of late can be attributed to its play on the defensive end, where the team has allowed just 57.8 points on 37.4 percent (113-of-302) shooting, including 29.9 percent (32-of-107) from 3-point range in the last 6 games. The Wildcats have allowed 60 points or less 4 times in that span, including a season-low 52 points to UCF on 33.8 percent shooting, including 23.8 percent from 3-point range. It was the fewest points allowed to a Big 12 opponent under Jerome Tang and the fewest in a Big 12 opener since 2003.
• The Wildcats have a strong scoring trio of junior Cam Carter (16.7 ppg.), junior Arthur Kaluma (15.2 ppg.) and senior Tylor Perry (15.1 ppg.), who are responsible for 62 percent of the team’s scoring (47 out of 76.3 ppg.). K-State is the only Big 12 member to have 3 players rank in the league’s top-15 in scoring, as Carter ranks seventh, Kaluma 11th and Perry 12th . The trio has been even more impressive in the 12 wins, averaging 48.1 points per game.
• Rebounding has been a strength for the Wildcats, as they rank in the top-40 nationally in 3 rebounding categories, including 18th in offensive rebounds (13.93), 33rd in rebounding/game  (40.47) and 41st in rebounding margin (+6.5). Senior David N’Guessan (8.4 rpg.) and junior Arthur Kaluma (8.0 rpg.) rank among the Big 12’s top-5 in rebounding.
• Thanks to a Big 12-leading four overtime games, K-State has 3 players who rank in the Big 12’s top-5 in minutes played, including league leader Tylor Perry (36.27 mpg.).

A K-STATE WIN WOULD…

• Snap a 9-game losing streak to Tech in Lubbock.
• Give it a 3-0 start to Big 12 play for the second straight year.
• Move Jerome Tang to 7-7 in true road games in his tenure.
• Give the Wildcats their third true road win of the season.
• Give Tang his 41st win as a head coach in his career.

NOTES ON TEXAS TECH (13-2, 2-0 Big 12)

• Under first-year head coach Grant McCasland, Texas Tech is off to a strong 13-2 start, including a 2-0 mark in Big 12 play after a 90-73 win over Oklahoma State at home on Tuesday night. The Red Raiders have won 8 straight dating to a 103-95 overtime loss at Butler on Nov. 30. They are a perfect 9-0 at home this season.
• Texas Tech is averaging 78.8 points on 47 percent shooting, including 36.8 percent from 3-point range, with 36.5 rebounds, 15.5 assists, 5.9 steals and 3.5 blocks per game, while allowing 65.2 points on 41.1 percent shooting, including 31.4 percent from 3-point range. The Red Raiders are

connecting on 77.6 percent from the free throw line.

• Six Red Raiders are averaging 9 or more points, including three in double figures, led by sophomore Pop Isaacs, who is averaging 16.7 points on 37.8 percent shooting, including 31.8 percent from 3-point range. Isaacs has a team-high 35 3-pointers. Senior transfer Joe Toussaint is averaging 14.3 points on 46.3 percent shooting to go with a team-best 4.1 assists. Senior Warren Washington (9.9 ppg.), sophomore Darrion Williams (9.7 ppg.) and senior Chance McMillian (9.1 ppg.) are all averaging better than 9 points per game. Washington has a team-best 7.7 rebounds per game, while Williams is averaging 6.9 rebounds per game.
• Texas Tech was picked eighth in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll. The Red Raiders posted a 16-16 record, including a 5-13 mark in the Big 12, in 2022-23. They had to replace 7 lettermen, including 4 starters.
• McCasland has posted a 223-91 mark in 10 seasons as a head coach, which includes a 6-year stint at North Texas, where he led the Mean Green to 135 wins, 4 postseason appearances, 2 C-USA regular season titles (2020, 2022) and the 2023 NIT title. Overall, he has won 365 games in his head coaching career, which includes Midland College (2004-09), Midwestern State (2009-11) and Arkansas State (2016-17).

SERIES HISTORY

• K-State holds a 26-24 advantage in the all-time series with Texas Tech, which includes a 7-16 mark in Lubbock. The Red Raiders have a slight 21-19 edge in the Big 12 era and won 9 of the last 12 meetings in the series.
• The team split their 2 meetings in 2023 with K-State winning its second straight at home in the series with a 68-58 win on Jan. 21 before Texas Tech earned a 71-63 win in the last meeting in Lubbock on Feb. 11. The last road win by K-State in the series came in a 60-56 victory on Feb. 25, 2014.

LAST 10 MEETINGS [3-7]

LAST MEETING

TEXAS TECH 71, 12/11 K-STATE 63 [Feb. 11, 2023]

• Texas Tech forced a season-high 23 turnovers, converting those into 28 points, as the Red Raiders ran their home winning streak over the Wildcats to 9 games with a 71-63 upset in the last meeting between the schools on Feb. 11, 2023, at United Supermarkets Arena.
• Markquis Nowell led three Wildcats in double figures with 18 points, while Desi Sills had 12 points off the bench.

LAST TIME OUT:

K-STATE 81, WEST VIRGINIA 67

• Junior guard Cam Carter scored 15 of his game-high 23 points after halftime to help K-State surge to a big second half performance in an 81-67 win over West Virginia on Tuesday night before 10,063 fans at the WVU Coliseum.
• With the win, the Wildcats (12-3, 2-0) snapped a 4-game losing streak to the Mountaineers (5-10, 0-2 Big 12) in Morgantown, as they earned their first victory at the WVU Coliseum since a 65-51 win on Feb. 18, 2019. It was just the fourth victory (1949, 2013 and 2019) at West Virginia in 13 all-time visits.
• Down 42-40 at the half, the Wildcats used a 17-5 run to start the second half to take control of the game and build their first double-digit lead (57-47) with just over 13 minutes to play. Four different players contributed to the run, including a combined 13 points from Carter (7 points) and fellow junior Arthur Kaluma (6 points).
• The Mountaineers were able to close to within 5 points on 3 occasions, including 61-56 at the third media timeout with 7:21 to play, but the Wildcats answered with a decisive 12-2 run to end any notion of a comeback and push ahead by a game-high 15 points (73-58) with 3:43 to play. Carter was responsible for 6 of the 12 points during the run. WVU got no closer than 8 points the rest of the way in dropping its fifth game in the last 6 outings.
• After allowing 42 points in the first half on 48 percent (12-of-25) shooting, including 50 percent (6-of-12) from 3-point range, K-State held West Virginia to just 25 points in the second half on 30.8 percent (8-of-26) shooting, including 18.2 percent (2-of-11) from long range.
• Carter led four Wildcats in double figures with his fourth 20-point game of the season, as he finished the game 6-of-14 from the field and a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line. Kaluma and senior David N’Guessan each added 17 points, as N’Guessan tallied both his season-high and Big 12 high in going 7-of-8 from the field and 3-of-3 from the free throw line. Senior Will McNair Jr. nearly tallied a double-double with 12 points and a season-high 9 rebounds.
• In addition to the four double-digit scorers, the Wildcats got another solid night from redshirt freshman guard Dorian Finister, who tied his season-high with 6 points on 3-of-4 shooting with 2 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal in a career-tying 22 minutes of action.
• K-State shot better than 50 percent from the field for the third time this season, connecting on 53.8 percent (28-of-52) of its field goals with 44 of its 81 points coming in the paint. Although both teams turned it over 13 times, the Wildcats were able to post a 17-5 advantage in points off turnovers.
• West Virginia was held to just 39.2 percent (20-of-51) shooting, including 30.8 percent (8-of-26) in the second half. The Mountaineers had 3 players score in double figures led by senior transfer RaeQuan Battle, who finished with 21 points on 5-of-13 field goals and 9-of-12 free throws.

POSTGAME NEWS & NOTES

• The 81 points tied for the most points against West Virginia on the road in the series, while the 14-point margin of victory tied for the most in the 13 career games in Morgantown and most since the last win in 2019.
• K-State held a 35-22 edge in rebounding, including 9 offensive rebounds that led to 11 second-chance points… The Wildcats also held the advantage in points off turnovers (17-5), points in the paint (44-2) and fast-break points (13-8).
• K-State is now 10-1 when 4 or more players score in double figures.
• Senior David N’Guessan scored a season- and Big 12-high of 17 points, while fellow senior Will McNair Jr. grabbed a season-high 9 rebounds.