K-State Plays Final Non-Conference Game Tuesday vs. Chicago State

GAME 13
KANSAS STATE (9-3) vs. CHICAGO STATE (7-12)
Tuesday, January 2, 2024 >> 7:01 p.m. CT >> Bramlage Coliseum (11,010) >> Manhattan, Kan.

TELEVISION
Big 12 Now / WatchESPN (link here)

• Ben Boyle (play-by-play)
• Stan Weber (analyst)
• Hannah Whetstone (sideline reporter)

RADIO
K-State Sports Network
Flagships: // KMAN 1350 & WIBW 580

• Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play)
• Matt Walters (analyst)

LIVE STATS
kstatesports.com
kstate.statbroadcast.com

TICKETS
kstatesports.com/tickets
$11.25-$35

COACHES
K-State: Jerome Tang [Charter Oak State College ’07]
Record at K-State: 35-13/Second Year
Career Record: 37-13*/Second Year
vs. Chicago State: 0-0 [0-0 at home]

Chicago State: Gerald Gillion [Florida State ’08]
Record at Chicago State: 25-57/3rd Year
Career Record: 25-57/3rd Year
vs. K-State: 0-0 [0-0 on the road]

PROBABLE STARTERS
K-State (9-3)
G: #2 Tylor Perry
G: #5 Cam Carter
W: #24 Arthur Kaluma
W: #1 David N’Guessan
C: #15 Will McNair Jr.

Chicago State (7-12)
G: #1 Wesley Cardet Jr.
G: #2 Deshawn Jean-Charles
G: #12 Brent Davis
G: #24 Jahsean Corbett
F: #22 Cameron Jernigan

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: K-State leads 2-0
At Home: K-State leads 2-0
At Bramlage Coliseum: K-State leads 2-0
Active Streak: K-State, 2
First Meeting: W, 73-36 [1/22/2007 in Manhattan]
Last Meeting: W, 99-68 [1/5/2009 in Manhattan]
Jerome Tang vs. Gerald Gillion: First meeting

K-STATE OPENS NEW YEAR WITH FINAL NON-CONFERENCE GAME TUESDAY
Kansas State (9-3) concludes non-conference play on Tuesday night, as the Wildcats open the calendar year 2024 by welcoming independent Chicago State (7-12) to Bramlage Coliseum at 7 p.m., CT. K-State has won the previous 2 matchups with the Cougars, in this, the first meeting between the schools since 2009. Chicago State has one of more impressive wins this season after shocking No. 25 Northwestern, 75-73, on Dec. 13 for the school’s first-ever Top 25 victory.

K-State is looking to win 10 non-conference games for the 14th time in the last 19 seasons, including the second straight season under Jerome Tang. The Wildcats have a 180-56 record in non-conference play since 2006-07, which includes a 125-13 mark at Bramlage Coliseum.

KEY STORYLINES

• K-State should get back an offensive weapon on Tuesday night, as senior guard Ques Glover is expected to return after missing the first 12 games due to injury. The graduate transfer has scored more than 1,000 career points in his career at Florida (2019-21) and Samford (2021-23) with 48 career double-digit scoring games, including 20 games of 20 or more points. He was twice selected to All-SoCon teams while at Samford, averaging 17.4 points in 48 career games.
• Thanks to non-conference victories over Providence and Villanova, K-State is one of just 27 schools nationally with 2 or more Q1 wins. That total ties for the third-most in the Big 12 with Baylor (2-2) and just behind Houston (4-0) and Kansas (3-1). Last season, the Wildcats ranked in the top-10 with 11 Q1 wins behind Kansas (17), Texas (16), Alabama (14) and UConn (12).
• K-State has made strides on the defensive end after allowing 75 points or more 4 times in the first 9 games. In the last 3 games, the Wildcats have allowed just 60.7 points on 38.8 percent (73-of-188) shooting, including just 60 points in wins over LSU and Wichita State. The key in those victories was its ability to defend the 3-pointer, as they combined to hold the Tigers and Shockers to just 23.1 percent (9-of-39) shooting from long range.
• Despite not hitting the 70-point mark in the last 2 games, the 77.0 scoring average is still the best through the first 12 games since the 2009-10 team averaged 82.8 points. The average is still trending ahead of last year’s team, which averaged 75.8 points through the first 12 games. K-State is averaging 34.0 points in the paint this season, including 36.8 in the last 8 games.
• The Wildcats have a strong scoring trio of junior Cam Carter (16.3 ppg.), senior Tylor Perry (15.8 ppg.) and junior Arthur Kaluma (15.3 ppg.), who are responsible for 62 percent of the team’s scoring (47.4 out of 77.0 ppg.). K-State is the only Big 12 member to have 3 players rank in the league’s top-20 in scoring, as Carter ranks seventh, Perry ninth and Kaluma 16th. The trio has been even more impressive in the 9 wins, averaging 49 points per game.
• Thanks to a Big 12-leading four overtime games, K-State has 3 players who rank in the Big 12’s top-4 in minutes played, including the league’s top-2 in junior Cam Carter (36.5 mpg.) and senior Tylor Perry (36.2 mpg.). Junior Arthur Kaluma is not far behind at 35.0 minutes/game.

A K-STATE WIN WOULD…

• Extend its winning streak over Chicago State to 3 games.
• Give it 10 in non-conference play for second straight year.
• Push its non-conference record to 181-56 since 2006-07.
• Push its home non-conference mark to 127-13 since 2006-07.
• Give it a 424-146 record at Bramlage Coliseum.

NOTES ON CHICAGO STATE (7-12)

• Under third-year head coach Gerald Gillon,
• Chicago State is off to a 7-12 start after dropping its third game in a row at crosstown rival DePaul, 70-58, on Dec. 30. The Cougars, the lone independent team in Division I, are in the midst in an 8-game road trip after playing at Wisconsin, Cal Baptist and DePaul. They still have matchups at Oklahoma State, UTEP, Fairleigh Dickinson and Stetson.
• Chicago State opened the season with 2 wins in its first 10 games before winning 5 of the next 6 games, including a 4-game winning streak that included an upset of nationally ranked Northwestern on Dec. 13. The victory was the first over a Top 25 opponent in school history.
• Chicago State is averaging 64.4 points on 40.2 percent shooting, including 27.9 percent from 3-point range, with 31.9 rebounds, 9.9 assists, 9.0 steals and 2.6 blocks per game, while allowing 70.6 points on 47.1 percent shooting, including 30.7 percent from 3-point range. The Cougars are connecting on 69.6 percent from the free throw line.
• Two Cougars are averaging in double figures led by Samford transfer guard Wesley Cardet Jr., who is averaging 18.8 points on 43.8 percent shooting, to go with 4.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 35.7 minutes per game. Fellow junior Jahsean Corbett is averaging 13.1 points on 39.4 percent shooting to go with a team-best 7.1 rebounds per game.
• Chicago State is playing its last season as an independent, as the Cougars will be moving to the Northeast Conference (NEC) for the 2024-25 season.
• Gillion, a former assistant at South Florida, Tennessee Tech and Samford, has a 25-57 overall record in his third season at Chicago State. He increased his win total by 4 from the 2021-22 (7-25) to the 2022-23 (11-20) season.
• Gillion’s brothers, Kenny and Zach, are both basketball coaches. Kenny Gillion is the head coach at prep powerhouse West Oaks Academy in Orlando and coached former Wildcat Selton Miguel (2020-22). Zach Gillion is a former assistant at Samford who coached Ques Glover.

FAMILIAR FOES

• K-State’s Ques Glover and Chicago State’s Wesley Cardet Jr. will face off against each other after being teammates at Samford during the 2021-22 season. Glover (19.2 ppg.) and Cardet (8.1 ppg.) led the Bulldogs to a 21-11 record in 2021-22 after the school went 6-13 in 2020-21.

SERIES HISTORY

• K-State and Chicago State will be meeting for the third time on Tuesday with the Wildcats winning the previous 2 matchups in 2007 and 2009.

ALL-TIME MEETINGS

LAST MEETING
K-STATE 99, CHICAGO STATE 68 [Jan. 5, 2009]

• Sophomore Fred Brown scored a game-high 26 points off the bench to lead K-State over Chicago State, 99-68, in the last meeting between the schools on Jan. 5, 2009, at Bramlage Coliseum.
• Brown led six players in double figures for K-State, while senior Darren Kent collected his fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and a team-high 12 rebounds.  Jacob Pullen added 12 points for the Wildcats.
• The Cougars kept the game close in the first half before a basket by Pullen sparked a 22-2 Wildcat run that put Chicago State away for good. Leading 49-31 at halftime, K-State made the most of the Cougars’ foul trouble in the second period, hitting 20-of-23 free throw attempts.

SUCCESS IN NON-CONFERENCE PLAY

• K-State has posted a 179-56 (.762) record in non-conference play since the 2006-07 season. During that span, the Wildcats have a 136-15 (.901) mark at home venues (includes games played at Bramlage Coliseum, INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita and the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City) in non-conference play, including a 126-13 (.908) mark at Bramlage Coliseum.
• K-State’s 12-1 non-conference mark in 2022-23 was the best since the 2009-10 team went a program-best 13-1. The 12 wins last season matched the 2008-09 and 2010-11 teams for the second-most in that span.

1700 WINS AND COUNTING

• K-State’s overtime 96-87 win over Nevada on Nov. 22, 2022, in the semifinals of the Cayman Islands Classic represented the 1,700th win in school history. The Wildcats are the 43rd Division I team to eclipse 1,700 wins, including the sixth Big 12 school.
• The Wildcats have 1,730-1,226 (.585) all-time record as a program, which includes 32 NCAA Tournament appearances and 21 conference championships.

LAST TIME OUT: K-STATE 69, WICHITA STATE 60

• Senior Tylor Perry led four Wildcats in double figures with a game-high 17 points, as K-State earned its fifth consecutive win over in-state rival Wichita State with a 69-60 victory before a record-crowd of 18,660 fans at Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center in the 12th Wildcat Classic on Dec. 21.
• The 18,660 fans in attendance were the largest crowd in the 12-game history of the Wildcat Classic, surpassing the previous high of 18,422 on Dec. 21, 2010. K-State is now 10-2 all-time in the Wildcat Classic, which dates to 2007.
• Perry was joined in double figures by junior Cam Carter (15 points), senior David N’Guessan (13 points) and junior Arthur Kaluma (11 points). N’Guessan nearly had a double-double with a game-high 9 rebounds to go along with a game-best 3 blocked shots. Perry added a season-tying 4 steals, game-tying 5 assists and 3 rebounds to his 17-point effort, while Carter had a game-tying 5 assists and 5 rebounds to go with his 15 points.
• K-State broke open a nip-and-tuck affair with a 15-5 run over a 5-minute span early in the second half, turning a 36-35 lead into a 51-40 advantage with just under 12 minutes remaining. Four different Wildcats contributed points during the pivotal run, including 5 points from Kaluma, 4 points from N’Guessan and 3 points each from Carter and Perry.
• Down double figures, WSU (8-4) didn’t go away, using a 7-0 run to close the deficit to 51-47 with just over 10 minutes remaining. However, the Wildcats returned serve with their own 7-0 spurt, including 4 more points from N’Guessan and a 3-pointer from Perry, to push back ahead by double digits at 58-47 at 8:15 mark. The Shockers would get no closer than 7 points the rest of the way.
• WSU narrowly out-shot K-State, 41.3 percent to 40 percent, scoring 38 of its 60 points in the paint. The Wildcats were able to capitalize on their opportunities from the free throw line, hitting on 23 of 29 attempts, including a perfect 6-of-6 effort from Perry and an 8-of-9 performance from Carter.
• The Shockers were led by junior Quincy Ballard, who posted 13 points and a team-best 7 rebounds, while juniors Xavier Bell and Colby Rogers added 12 points each. Reserve Ronnie DeGray III had 4 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals.
• The teams will finish off their 4-game series in 2024-25 when Wichita State plays host to K-State at Koch Arena for the first time since 2002.

POSTGAME NEWS & NOTES

• K-State is now 10-2 all-time in the Wildcat Classic, which dates to 2007.
• K-State is now 23-22 in games played at T-Mobile Center, including 12-6 in games played in the regular season (10-2 in Wildcat Classic and 2-4 in Hall of Fame Classic). The rest of the games have come in the Big 12 Championship.
• The 18,660 attendance represented the largest in the 12-game Wildcat Classic history, surpassing the 18,422 vs. UNLV on Dec. 21, 2010.
• K-State earned its fifth straight win over WSU and now lead the series, 23-11.
• K-State is now 180-56 in non-conference play since 2006-07.
• K-State scored its 69 points on 40 percent (20-of-50) shooting, including 33.3 percent (6-of-18) from 3, while the Wildcats went 23-of-29 from the line.
• K-State held a 37-33 advantage in rebounding, marking the eighth time in 12 games that the Wildcats have out-rebounded their opponent.
• The game pitted longtime friends Kansas State’s Jerome Tang and WSU’s Paul Mills, who spent 14 seasons together as assistant coaches at Baylor.