The Wildcats got more than they bargained for when Emporia State, a Division II team, strolled into Bramlage Coliseum Wednesday night. And the competition doesn’t get any easier this weekend.
K-State (3-0) ventures on its first road game of the season as they travel to play Cleveland State (1-1) on Saturday.
“This is not just a road game,” said head coach Frank Martin. “This is a very hard road game.”
CSU returns four starters and seven total players to a team that went to the National Invitation Tournament, including their top two scorers, J’Nathan Bullock and Cedric Jackson. Both Bullock and Jackson were named to the Preseason All-Horizon League first team.
The Vikings were also an overwhelming preseason pick to win the Horizon League.
“I do not like things being easy,” Martin said. “I told the team that there were a lot of guys that went 20-0 when they stepped in the ring with Mike Tyson, but they had never been challenged and the first time they got hit they went down.
“I like our team to be challenged,” he said.
This will be the second game in a row that the Wildcats will be challenged after struggling with Emporia State.
Offensively, the Wildcats were led on Wednesday night by Fred Brown and Dominique Sutton who each scored 14 points in the 82-60 victory.
Freshman Jamar Smauels also scored 10 points and Ron Anderson pulled in a game-high of 10 rebounds.
Anderson spoke about making the trip to Cleveland State after the game Wednesday night.
“We are eager to get back into the environment where we do not have the sixth man to our advantage,” he said. “We are eager to just get back out on the road again.”
CSU head coach Gary Waters, the reigning Horizon League Co-Coach of the Year, has transformed the Vikings to one of the top programs in the league in just two years. A 34-year collegiate coaching veteran, Waters has a 203-170 record.
Cleveland State comes into the game Saturday after losing to the University of Washington 78-63 on Wednesday.
“These are the times where you truly find out how to work as a team and come together,” he said. “We are going to need to know how to succeed playing on the road in the Big 12 as the road wins are going to be the most valuable ones.”