Kansas State vs Oklahoma: 2018-19 college basketball game preview, TV schedule
By Cody Gerena
For the first time in school history, the #18 Kansas State can win the Big 12 outright. Will they be able to capitalize on a year where Kansas’ streak ends, or will an Oklahoma Sooner team that’s on the bubble put an end to their Big 12 championship hopes?
TV Schedule: Saturday, March 9, 6:00 pm on ESPN2
Arena: Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kansas
If you have been paying attention at all the last week, you have heard the good news. Well good news if you don’t happen to be a Jayhawk fan, and that news is that for the first time in 15 years, the Big 12 won’t be won by Kansas. As of right now, with one game left in the conference schedule for the Big 12, the Kansas State Wildcats 23-7 (13-4) are tied with the #8 Texas Tech Red Raiders 25-5 (13-4). In the scenario that they both win or lose on March 9, the Wildcats will hold the tiebreaker for the one seed in the conference tournament as they swept Baylor while Texas Tech split that series(It should be brought up that is the third tiebreaker as they split games against each other and third seed Kansas).
An outright Big 12 regular season championship will do the Wildcats a lot of good, as right now they aren’t getting that much love in the projected brackets. In the latest FanSided Bracketology and ESPN’s Bracketology with Joe Lunardi, Kansas State is put in the tournament as a projected 4-seed, which is behind both Kansas and Texas Tech as 3-seeds in the FanSided Bracketology and tied with Kansas as a 4-seed behind a 3-seed Texas Tech in the ESPN one.
This game is also a big one for their opponent, the Oklahoma Sooners 19-11 (7-10) who are currently on the bubble. Even though they may be on the bubble, a weakish bubble class this season has given them a lot of leeway and a win at K-State is just what they need to practically guarantee themselves a spot in the NCAA Tournament. They are projected as an 8-seed in the FanSided Bracketology and a 9-seed in the ESPN Bracketology.
Kansas State has done well this year and its no wonder, as all of their starters and bench players who played more than 10 minutes a game have returned from last year’s Elite 8 season. One key player on their team is Big 12 Pre-Season Player of the Year senior forward Dean Wade, who is first on the team in rebounds with 6.2 per game and second on the team in points and assists with 13 and 2.8 respectively. Another key player is senior guard Barry Brown who is first on the team in points per game with 15.1 and third in assists and rebounds per game with 2.7 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game. Last but not least on the Wildcats is senior guard Kamau Stokes who leads the team in assists per game with 3.3, he is also third on the team in points with 10.5 per game.
In comparison, the Sooners do not have their star player, Trae Young from last year’s team that barely made the tournament, but they are doing better this season thanks in part to a stronger lineup overall. Leading the Sooners will be senior guard Christian James who leads the team in points with 14.8 points per game and is second on the team in rebounds and assists with 6.5 rebounds per game and 1.9 assists per game. In addition, the Sooners have junior forward Kristian Doolittle who has done a lot for them this season as he leads the team in rebounds with 7 per game and gets over 10 points per game.
Next. Big 12 Bracketology. dark
The last game between these two teams should be brought up as Oklahoma lost to Kansas State at home 74-61 back when the Sooners were ranked twentieth in the nation, but you could make the case for Oklahoma being the hotter team lately as they were the team who recently beat the Jayhawks.