From K-State Athletics
Game times for Kansas State’s men’s basketball games with Vanderbilt (Saturday, December 22) in the Wildcat Classic and Texas A&M (Saturday, January 26) in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge were announced on Thursday (September 6) by the Big 12 Conference and ESPN.
K-State’s matchup with Vanderbilt at the Sprint Center in Kansas City in the Wildcat Classic will tip at 6 p.m., CT on Saturday, December 22 and air on ESPN2. The road game with Texas A&M in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge will tip at 1 p.m., CT on Saturday, January 26 and air on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.
Tickets for the Wildcat Classic at the Sprint Center are currently on sale in the K-State Athletic Ticket Office at (800) 221.CATS and at www.kstatesports.com/tickets as well as through all Ticketmaster outlets, by calling (800) 745.3000 or online at www.Ticketmaster.com.
Tickets are priced at $150 for courtside, $50 for lower-level sides, $25 for lower-level corners and $15 for lower-level ends and upper-level sides at the Sprint Center. Tickets for groups of 12 or more people start at just $5.
Student tickets will be priced at $5 and will be available beginning Monday, November 5, for ICAT pass holders; Tuesday, November 6 for general admission combo pass holders; and Wednesday, November 7 for all other students. Students can purchase their Wildcat Classic tickets in person at the Bramlage Coliseum ticket office or online through their ticket account. Physical tickets will be distributed via mail or will call.
The game will mark the eighth Wildcat Classic game at Sprint Center and the first since 2016. Last season, K-State earned an 84-79 win over Vanderbilt in the first meeting between the schools since 1994 at historic Memorial Gym in Nashville on December 3, 2017.
The Texas A&M game at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas, will be one of 10 contested between the two conferences in the sixth edition of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday, January 26. The Big 12 has won three of the five Challenge series, posting a 29-21 (.580) record. The Big 12 won the first three Challenge series (2014, 2015, 2016) before splitting (5-5) in 2017 and narrowly losing (4-6) in 2018.
The Wildcats, which will face the Aggies for the 27th time and the first time since 2015, went a perfect 3-0 against the SEC a season ago with victories at Vanderbilt (84-79), at home against Georgia (56-51) in last year’s Challenge series and against Kentucky (61-58) in the NCAA Tournament to advance to the Elite Eight.
K-State has met at least one SEC opponent in each of the last 10 seasons and could face up to three in 2018-19 with games against Vanderbilt and Texas A&M and a possible meeting with Missouri in the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam.
