The Kansas State men’s basketball team will take on TCU for their quarterfinal game at the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Missouri, on Thursday.
The eighth-seeded Horned Frogs beat the ninth-seeded Oklahoma State Cowboys in the first round 73-70.
The Wildcats swept the Horned Frogs in the regular season, winning 65-55 in Manhattan and 64-52 in Fort Worth, Texas.
TCU is without star senior guard Jaylen Fisher, who was sidelined for the season in early January and has not returned. He averaged over 12 points a game.
TCU tied for fourth in the Big 12 in the preseason poll, but the Horned Frogs ended up finishing eighth. They finished the regular season 7-11 in conference play and 19-12 overall.
Junior guard Desmond Bane leads the Horned Frogs in scoring and senior guard Alex Robinson is top-10 in the nation in assists per game with 6.9.
For K-State, the starting lineup is in flux because of an injury to senior forward Dean Wade that will likely sideline him for the majority of the Big 12 tournament.
The Wildcat’s sophomore guard Cartier Diarra will likely play, he has not played since a Feb. 9 win at Baylor.
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Diarra practices, Wade does not on first day of Big 12 tournament
It is likely that K-State will go with a larger starting lineup to match up with TCU’s.
Head coach Bruce Weber indicated on Wednesday that the fifth spot would likely be filled by either junior forward Austin Trice or sophomore guard Mike McGuirl, but it would depend on who they played.
If K-State wins Thursday, they will play the winner of Iowa State vs Baylor on Friday at 6:00 p.m.
