By Tom Gilbert, K-State Athletics Communications
Kansas State will open the Big 12 Conference portion of its men’s basketball schedule at home against West Virginia on Saturday, January 2.
The Wildcats, who own the second-most Big 12 wins (52) in the last five seasons, will play 14 league games against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament a year ago, including seven in Bramlage Coliseum. In addition, five of the nine home league contests will also fall on a Saturday, including matchups with NCAA Tournament participants Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, West Virginia as well as the annual Sunflower Showdown with Kansas.
K-State is 58-18 (.763) at home in Big 12 play since the 2006-07 season.
“I think I say this every year but the schedule will again be very challenging,” said fourth-year head coach Bruce Weber. “There are five Big 12 teams in most of the early preseason polls, including three in the Top 10, so the league should once again be one of the best, if not, the best, in the country. I think this year more than ever, it doesn’t matter what team you play on a given day, you better be ready to play at a high level every day to be successful.”
K-State will have 15 of its 18 conference contests broadcast on one of ESPN’s family of networks, including the home game with Kansas on Saturday, February 20 and the road contest at Iowa State on Saturday, February 27 on either ESPN or ESPN2. The squad will also play six times on ESPNU, which includes the opener with West Virginia, while there will be seven appearances on ESPNews. The three league games not on ESPN networks (the road game at Texas on January 5 and home games with Texas Tech on January 12 and TCU on March 2) will be broadcast as part of the institutionally controlled television package, which will be announced at a later date.
After opening league play with West Virginia, the Wildcats will play back-to-back road games at Texas on Tuesday, January 5 and Oklahoma on Saturday, January 9 before returning home for consecutive tilts against Texas Tech on Tuesday, January 12 and Iowa State on Saturday, January 16. The squad finishes the month with road games against Baylor (Wednesday, January 20) and West Virginia (Tuesday, January 26) in between a home contest with Oklahoma State on Saturday, January 23. K-State hosts Ole Miss in the Big 12-SEC Challenge on Saturday, January 30.
The Wildcats will open February with a road trip to Kansas on Wednesday, February 3 before hosting Oklahoma (Saturday, February 6) and Baylor (Wednesday, February 10) in consecutive home games. The team will play back-to-back road trip the next week with Oklahoma State on Saturday, February 13 and TCU on Wednesday, February 17. The squad follows with two straight home games, beginning with Kansas on Saturday, February 20 and finishing with Texas on Monday, February 22. The regular season rounds out with two road games in its last three contests, including Iowa State on Saturday, February 27 and Texas Tech on Saturday, March 5 with Senior Night slated for Wednesday, March 2 against TCU.
The Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship will be held Wednesday through Saturday, March 9-12, at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Wildcats return four players with starting experience in 2015-16 to go with the influx of seven newcomers, including PARADE All-American Dean Wade (St. John, Kansas/St. John) and NJCAA First Team All-American Carlbe Ervin II (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma/Connors State College). Senior guard Justin Edwards (6.3 ppg., 3.3 rpg.) is the team’s top returner in both scoring and steals (37), while junior forward Wesley Iwundu (5.8 ppg., 3.5 rpg.) is the leading returner in rebounding (108), assists (61), blocks (20) and minutes (780).
