The Wildcats stay in Utah to faces the Utes in a must-win game.
All good things must come to an end, and for the Kansas State Wildcats, their six-game win streak that had revitalized the fanbase and brought life to tournament hopes came crashing down with an ugly 80-65 loss to BYU in Provo on Saturday night. Now the Wildcats (13-12, 7-7 Big 12) will stay in Utah as they look to get back on track against Utah in Salt lake City.
The Utes enter tonight’s game at 14-11 overall, but just 6-8 in Big 12 play. They’ve mostly beaten teams around or below them in the Big 12 standings, but do have two big wins at home: in overtime over rival BYU a month ago, and a surprising 74-67 win over KU while the Cats were busy losing in Provo. After that, their next-best win is over TCU, over a month ago, who is right with K-State ahead of Utah in the Big 12 standings. They also have three home losses in Big 12 play, but all are to teams that have been ranked or receiving votes at some point. So the Utes are a mediocre team that can get up for a big game, but aren’t world-beaters at home by any stretch.
Regardless, this is a must-win game for either team if they want to keep any post-season hopes alive. At this point, K-State has a clear path, but the TangCats need to win at least their next five games, including tonight. The Utes are right above K-State at 72 in the NET, and while a win isn’t exactly a resume-booster, a loss (for either team) is a “bad” loss at this point of the season for a team that’s hoping to keep in sniffing distance of the bubble.
So, for our sake, hopefully the Wildcats are ready to come and and show that the BYU performance was a fluke. And hopefully the Utes will succumb to an emotional let-down after their big win on Saturday.
We could use all the help we can get.
We’ve got a 8:00pm CT tipoff for the game tonight at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, and you can catch the action on ESPN2 (and streaming on ESPN.com) with Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play) and Sean Farnham (analyst) on the call.
If you don’t get ESPN2, or can’t access the stream, the game can be heard across portions of the 28-station K-State Sports Network with Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play) and Stan Weber (analyst) calling the action. The game will also be available online at K-Statesports.com and via the Varsity Network app, as well as on satellite radio on SiriusXM Ch. 383. Live stats are also available at k-statesports.com, and social media updates (@KStateMBB) will also be a part of the coverage.
Go Cats!