KANSAS STATE (6-4) at WICHITA STATE (8-3)
Saturday, Dec. 21 | 6:00 p.m.
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
 
TV: ESPN+ with Shane Dennis & Bob Hull
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy & Dave Dahl
 

---

Yellow Out The Roundhouse: WEAR YELLOW for a massive in-state showdown with Kansas State that hasn't happened in The Roundhouse since 2000!
Halftime: The Spyros Bros -- Masters of the Art of Diabolo
 

---

OPENING TIPS
• An in-state showdown comes to the Roundhouse Saturday night when Wichita State and Kansas State square off at 6 p.m.
• Wichita State suffered its second straight loss, falling 74-64 on Tuesday at home vs. Kansas City. The loss snapped a six-game home win streak.
• For the first time this season Wichita State's opponents have shot better than 50% from the field in back-to-back games (DePaul - 51.6%; Kansas City - 52.8%).
• Xavier Bell scored a season and game-high 21 points in the loss to Kansas City. He's averaging 16.0 ppg over his last three games.
• Bell reached 1,000 career points on Dec. 17 vs. Kansas City. He's one of two 1,000-point scorers on the roster along with Justin Hill.
• K-State enters the matchup at 6-4, but also riding a two-game losing streak. David N'Guessan ranks 7th nationally in field goal percentage (68.7%).
• Wichita State finished the month of November 6-1. In his two seasons, the Shockers are 13-2 under Mills in November games.
• Wichita State is 18-9 all time on Dec. 21.
• Wichita State ranks 26th nationally in defensive rebounds per game (28.36).
• Quincy Ballard leads the American Athletic Conference in blocks per game (1.90) and ranks 42nd nationally. His 19 total blocks also lead the league, while ranking 53rd in the NCAA.
• At No.113 in the KenPom rankings, Wichita State ranks 4th out of the 13 teams in the American.
• Senior forward Ronnie DeGray III will be sidelined for the next several weeks after suffering a fractured wrist vs. Monmouth on Nov. 18.
• Wichita State returns three starters and seven letterwinners from the 2023-24 roster, including three of its top five scorers.
• Quincy Ballard shattered the single season school record for field goal percentage and also had top five marks in blocks per game and total blocks in 2023-24.
• Ballard moved into 5th on the Wichita State career blocks list vs. ETSU with 107. He's on pace to shatter the WSU career record for blocks per game at 1.98.
• Eight student-athletes on Wichita State's roster have NCAA Tournament experience: Quincy Ballard (Florida St.), Xavier Bell (Drexel), Harlond Beverly (Miami), Ronnie DeGray III (Missouri), Justin Hill (Longwood), AJ McGinnis (UNCG), Zane Meeks (San Francisco) and Corey Washington (St. Peter's).

SCOUTING KANSAS STATE
• Jerome Tang is in his third year at the helm of the Kansas State men's basketball program.
• Tang was the 2023 Big 12 Coach of the Year and Werner Ladder Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year after leading the Wildcats to an Elite Eight berth in his inaugural season.
• Among his 51 wins at K-State are 11 against teams ranked in the Top 25, including 6 Top 10 opponents. The 11 career Top 25 wins are the fifth-most in school history, while the 6 against Top 10 competition tie for the fourth-most. Nine of the 11 ranked wins have come in the friendly confines of Bramlage Coliseum, where Tang is 29-4 (.879) overall, including 15-3 (.833) in Big 12 play and 9-2 (.818) against ranked foes.
• The Wildcats were picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 Preseason Poll. Illinois transfer Coleman Hawkins was a Preseason All-Big 12 Second Team pick and the Preseason Co-Newcomer of the Year.
• K-State brought in one of the top transfer classes with 10 newcomers, including eight Division I transfers, one NJCAA Division II All-American, a Division II walk-on and one high school prospect.
• Among the 11 newcomers are seven Division I transfers, including Baye Fall (Arkansas), Brendan Hausen (Villanova), Coleman Hawkins (Illinois), C.J. Jones (UIC), Max Jones (Cal State Fullerton) and Ugonna Onyenso (Kentucky).
• Fresh off a season-high 27 points at St. John's, Brendan Hausen ranks second on the Wildcats in scoring at 14.0 points per game. He's connecting on 43.9% of his three-point attempts.
• One of the few holdovers from last year's squad, David N'Guessan puts up 14.1 points and 7.0 rebounds per game on 68.7% shooting. He has scored 10 or more points in every game this season, including a season-high 21 in the season opener. He also had 15 rebounds - 10 of them on the offensive end.
• Dug McDaniel is the third Cat in double figures at 10.7 points per game, while leading the team in assists (41). McDaniel is shooting just 26.5% from beyond the arc. After dishing out a season-high 10 assists vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, McDaniel failed to record an assist in the loss at St. John's.
• Hawkins pulls down a team-high 7.0 rebounds to go with 9.5 points. He also leads the team in steals (26) and blocks (13). Hawkins has one double-double this season, but is shooting only 38.9% from the field and 29.7% from long range.
• As a team, K-State averages 79.4 points on 47.4% shooting and 37.2% from three-point range. They are converting on 68.1% of their free throw attempts.
• K-State dishes out 14.0 assists to 12.5 turnovers.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. KANSAS STATE
• K-State leads the all-time series, 23-11, including winners of the last five meetings.
• The two schools reignited the series in 2021 after an 18-year hiatus.
• Dating back to 2003, the last four games have been decided by a total of 24 points: 4 (50-54), 6 (59-65), 5 (50-55) and 9 (60-69).
• The most notable series meeting came in the 1964 Midwest Regional Final, played inside the Roundhouse. Dave Stallworth (37 points, 16 rebounds) outdueled fellow All-American Willie Murrell (28 pts, 10 reb), but the Wildcats escaped Wichita with a 94-86 win.
• A year later, Wichita State again advanced to the regional final round, this time defeating Oklahoma State to punch its first Final Four ticket. That game was played at K-State's Ahearn Fieldhouse.
• For years it was Wichita State's lone bright spot in Manhattan. The Shockers lost its first 12 road games at K-State before finally breaking through in 1996 and again in 2001.

CONNECT THE DOTS
• Wichita State head coach Paul Mills and Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang have a well-documented history that traces back to their years at Baylor under head coach Scott Drew. For 14 years, Mills and Tang were on the staff together at Baylor, helping turn the Bears from a laughingstock into a perennial power. 
• Current assistant coach Quincy Acy played for both Mills and Tang from 2008-12, earning All-Big 12 honors multiple times in his career.
• Wichita State Athletic Director Kevin Saal is a Manhattan native and former K-State staffer (2000-05). He spent a year as administrative assistant for the K-State men's and women's golf and rowing programs before transitioning into an event management role.
• K-State Executive Associate A.D. Casey Scott began his career in 1985 as Wichita State's Sports Information Director. A native of Wichita, Scott spent 12 years at Wichita State before departing for Colorado State in 1998.

ON THIS DATE: DEC. 21
• 1954 – Cleo Littleton scored 33 points to help 14th-ranked Wichita defeat Houston, 86-80, in the All-College Tournament at Oklahoma City's Municipal Auditorium.
• 2010 – In the first college basketball game played at the new INTRUST Bank Arena, Wichita State downed its old rival Tulsa, 82-79.
• 2019 – Wichita State knocked off No. 25 VCU in Charles Koch Arena, 73-63. Four Shockers reached double figures, including Jaime Echenique with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks.
• 2024 - Wichita State and Kansas State are squaring off for the second straight season on Dec. 21. The teams met exactly one year ago at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Quincy Ballard is 18 blocks away from 125 in his Wichita State career.
• Harlond Beverly is 37 points shy of 1,000 career points.
• Bijan Cortes is 49 assists away from 250 for his career.
• Justin Hill  is 39 assists shy of 500 for his career.
• AJ McGinnis is 110 points away from reaching 1,000 for his career.

KANSAS CITY LEFTOVERS
• Wichita State dropped to 7-4 vs. Kansas City.
• The Shockers are now 14-12 when playing on Dec. 17. Wichita State has lost three in a row on the date.
• Wichita State allowed a season high in field goal percentage for the second straight game. After allowing DePaul to shoot 51.6%, the Roos upped it to 52.8%.
• Wichita State's 15.8% shooting from beyond the arc was its second worst of the season.
• Wichita State shot a season-worst 54.2% at the free throw line. Over the last two games Wichita State is just 26-for-46 (56.5%) from the charity stripe.
• The Shockers were outrebounded for the sixth time this season.
• Wichita State's six turnovers tied a season low.
• Wichita State's seven assists also tied a season low.
• Xavier Bell scored a game and season-high 21 points. It was his seventh game in double figures this season and 31st of his career at Wichita State.
• It marked his fifth career 20-point game as a Shocker.
• Justin Hill recorded his team-leading ninth game in double figures behind 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting.
• Quincy Ballard posted his second game with 10 or more rebounds.
• Bijan Cortes finished without an assist for the first time this season. It snapped a streak of 24 straight games with at least one assist.
• Corey Washington grabbed seven rebounds. He's averaging 8.8 rebounds over his last four games.

OLD TIMERS
• With COVID still impacting eligibility, several schools around the country have multiple student-athletes on their rosters playing in their fifth, sixth and even seventh seasons. Wichita State is tied for second in the country with seven student-athletes in their fifth year or higher of collegiate basketball.

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 9-3 this season.
... Snap a two-game losing streak.
... Up their record to 6-1 at home this season.
... Move them to 12-23 all time vs. Kansas State.
... Snap a 5-game losing streak vs. the Wildcats.
... Make Paul Mills 24-22 as Wichita State head coach.
... Give Mills 130 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,681-1,267 all time.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 8-4 this season.
... Be their second straight home loss and third straight loss overall.
... Drop them to 11-24 all time vs. Kansas State.
... Be their sixth straight loss to the Wildcats.
... Make Paul Mills 23-23 as Wichita State head coach.
... Lower Mills' career record to 129-107.
... Drop their record to 1,680-1,268 all time.

GAME 13: FRIENDS                                                              
• Wichita State is 40-11 all-time vs. Friends with wins in each of the last seven meetings.
• The Falcons are 8-4 to begin the 2024-25 season, having lost their last two games.
• Friends is led by second-year head coach Phil McClintock.