A busy week in K-State Athletics has the tennis, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and track and field teams all in action.
TENNIS
The tennis team begins their 2021 spring slate this week as they travel to Arlington, Texas, to compete in the Big 12-Pac-12 Dual from Monday to Wednesday.
The Wildcats compete against three other teams throughout the three days, including Big 12 Conference foes Texas Tech and Kansas, while also taking on Pac-12 opponent Utah.
The tennis team comes off of an 8-4 spring campaign in 2020 before the rest of its season was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Since winning four out of five of its December games, the men’s basketball team (5-8, 1-4 Big 12) has struggled, losing three straight to begin 2021. The last Big 12 Conference victory? Against Iowa State (2-7, 0-5 Big 12). The next game? Once again, Iowa State.
Kansas State takes on the Cyclones at 6 p.m. on Wednesday inside Bramlage Coliseum. The last time the two teams met was about a month ago on Dec. 15 when K-State stormed into Hilton Coliseum and escaped with a shocking 74-65 victory.
The Cyclones have won just once since that loss to K-State. Granted, four of their five last opponents were Top 25 teams. The final meeting between the Wildcats and Cyclones in the regular season is on ESPNU.
After the home tilt with the Cyclones, K-State travels to Austin, Texas, to take on quite possibly the hottest team in the nation in the No. 4 ranked Texas Longhorns (10-1, 5-1 Big 12). The Longhorns come off of a dramatic 72-70 victory over No. 14 West Virginia on Saturday afternoon thanks to redshirt junior guard Andrew Jones nailing a three-pointer with 1.8 seconds left.
The Longhorns are the second of the Wildcats’ opponents so far this season ranked inside the Top 5. The last time out, K-State fell to No. 2 Baylor 100-69. Saturday’s matchup tips off at 7 p.m. inside Frank Erwin Center on Longhorn Network.
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TRACK AND FIELD
After claiming 14 wins — including eight individual victories — on Saturday at the Wildcat Invitational, the track and field team is in full swing with the indoor portion of its schedule. Next up for the Wildcats is the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular in Ahearn Field House Saturday.
Saturday’s meet is K-State’s fourth meet of the indoor season, giving the team a leg up on the competition. Wichita State opens up its indoor season on Thursday in the Shocker Prelude, while Kansas has not competed since its Crimson vs Blue intrasquad meet on Nov. 21.
K-State took last year’s triangular in Wichita, putting up 12 victories and 254.5 points to defeat Wichita State (221) and Kansas (191.5). A start time for the triangular inside Ahearn Field House hasn’t been announced.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
COVID-19 issues have ravaged the women’s basketball team since it last played a game on Dec. 21 — a 62-52 loss to No. 17 Texas. Since that loss, the Wildcats postponed four straight games, including a home matchup with TCU originally planned for Thursday.
The next game on the Wildcats’ schedule is a meeting with the top team in the Big 12 Conference standings, Oklahoma State (10-2, 6-0 Big 12) — if K-State can field a team. Per the Big 12 basketball interruption guidelines, a team must have at least six scholarship players available for a game to be played.
The Wildcats will not have played in almost four weeks when the Cowgirls come to town on Sunday. The last time the Wildcats made any comment on the situation was on Jan. 5, extending the pause on all team activities because of COVID-19 test results.
If the game with Oklahoma State goes on as planned, it tips off at 1 p.m. in Bramlage Coliseum on ESPN+.
