The Kansas State men’s basketball team is coming off their biggest win of the season against the University of Oklahoma, ranked fourth in the nation, and the Wildcats are getting ready to face TCU on Saturday at 3 p.m in Bramlage Coliseum.
The Wildcats dismantled the Sooners 87-69 on Tuesday night inside Bramlage and picked up their first win against a top-25 opponent on the year.
“The players are the ones that made this happen,” head coach Bruce Weber said after the game. “Barry Brown has been a big part of keeping this team together and had practices on his own without us coaches. We had to raise our game up and they’ve stuck together.”
The win against Oklahoma came right after a one-point loss to KU last Saturday, and Weber said it would’ve been easy to hang their heads.
“But they didn’t,” Weber said. “They played at such a high level and it was a great team win for us.”
The Big 12 schedule never seems to get any easier, though — the TCU Horned Frogs will make their way to Manhattan on Saturday.
TCU’s record is 13-4 overall, but the Horned Frogs have struggled in Big 12 conference play, currently with a 1-4 record. The lone conference win came against Baylor in double overtime, 81-78.
Three of the first five conference games for TCU have gone to overtime, with the Horned Frogs being 1-2 in those three games.
Another astonishing number from TCU’s first five conference games is that all of these games have been decided by five points or less.
As for K-State, the Wildcats have been carried by junior guard Barry Brown, who continues to score in the paint and stand tough on defense.
Brown guarded Oklahoma standout Trae Young, who was held to a total of 20 points in the loss.
Redshirt freshman guard Cartier Diarra has stepped in very nicely for junior guard Kamau Stokes, who could be out for up to four weeks. Diarra has scored double digits in the past three games and has stepped into the starting role with ease.
K-State is 3-3 in Big 12 play and in fifth place among the teams in the conference. The three losses in the conference have all come against teams that are ahead of the Wildcats in the Big 12.
“I think momentum will carry over on Saturday for us,” junior forward Dean Wade said following his 21-point performance against the Sooners. “Hopefully we continue to play at a high level, and the atmosphere was great to play in so we hope to see them back on Saturday against TCU.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the Wildcats’ win against the University of Oklahoma was on Wednesday evening. It was actually on Tuesday evening.
