Fresh off a 69-47 victory over Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas, on Wednesday night, the 22nd-ranked K-State men's basketball team has now won three straight Big 12 Conference contests.

K-State (15-4, 4-3 Big 12) now must turn its attention to an Oklahoma team that just two short weeks ago handed the Wildcats their second-worst loss of the season. That game was in Norman, Okla., but this Saturday, the Sooners will have to come to Manhattan to take on Frank Martin's team.

"We were not a team that was on the same page as we are now or that we were back in December," Martin said about K-State's previous loss to Oklahoma. "We were hurt and we had issues that we were dealing with. We were playing with our feelings hurt and you cannot do that in this league or you are going to get beat. You are going to get beat good and that is what Oklahoma did to us."

Since the last time the Sooners and Wildcats met, the two teams have been heading in opposite directions. The Wildcats won three straight games and the Sooners are 1-2, having lost two straight games.

If Oklahoma (12-7, 2-5) hopes to beat the Wildcats this time around, the Sooners must first worry about attempting to stop junior guard Rodney McGruder. McGruder scored 13 points and collected six rebounds against the Red Raiders on Wednesday, bringing his season totals to 15.5 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game. Even more impressive than that, McGruder continues to lead the Big 12 in scoring during conference matches with 20.6 points per game.

McGruder isn't the only Wildcat who has played well on the offensive end of the court recently. Junior guard Martavious Irving stepped up and scored 16 points and added four assists against Texas Tech.

"I do not really get into the whole starting or coming off the bench thing," Irving said. "It does not really matter. Frank told me that I would be getting the same amount of minutes except I would just be coming off the bench and that I would be giving the bench some firepower."

K-State must be better defensively in the second go-around in order to beat the Sooners. In the first game, the Wildcats struggled to stop a Sooner offense that featured a balanced scoring attack. Four Sooners were in double figures that game with junior forward Andrew Fitzgerald leading the way with a season-high 21 points.

Fitzgerald isn't the only Sooner capable of scoring in large amounts for Lon Kruger's team. The Wildcats must also prepare for junior guard Steven Pledger who leads the Sooners in scoring at 17.2 points per game. Pledger scored 18 points the first time the Sooners played K-State this year.

Wildcat fans know Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger as more than just the Sooners' head coach. Kruger is a former Wildcat and Saturday will be the first visit to his alma mater since taking over at Oklahoma.

"He really is one of the all-time greats here, as a player and as a coach." Martin said about Kruger. "He has been a winner everywhere that he has been. I understand that he is coaching at Oklahoma, but that purple still runs through his blood. He has got tremendous pride about his alma mater. I think it is going to be an emotional moment for him because I know how much he loves this school."

Kruger, an All-Big Eight guard and later a four-year coach of the Wildcats, has brought just one other team, Texas-Pan American, to Manhattan.

With a victory against the Sooners, the Wildcats would be winners of four straight games and would have great momentum going into the rest of Big 12 play. K-State currently sits tied with Iowa State for fourth in the Big 12, but the Wildcats have a big matchup with the Iowa State Cyclones just a few days after the game against Oklahoma.

The Wildcats know they must not get caught looking ahead as every game is important in the Big 12. K-State wouldn't want what happened in Norman two weeks ago to happen in Manhattan on Saturday.

"They beat us and it was like a slap in the face because of how bad we got beat," McGruder said about their game in Norman. "The best part about having a round-robin schedule is that you get the chance to play them again."

The game is scheduled to tip off in Bramlage Coliseum at 6 p.m.