New Kansas State coach Casey Alexander made some quick adjustments after the season-opening loss, and the Wildcats bounced back with a 95-78 win over CSUN to get back to even on the young season. Now the Wildcats will see if those improvements will have any lasting effect, as Big East foe Creighton is in town for the first time since the 80’s to face off against the Wildcats.
Yes, for two programs just a few hours apart, they’ve met just 17 times all-time with the last three meetings coming away from
Manhattan — all three ending in Wildcat victories, including the 69-59 win in 2018 on K-State’s path to the Elite 8. And now, for the first time very nearly 40 years, the Blue Jays will be in Manhattan, where K-State holds a 4-0 edge all-time against the northern foes.
The Wildcats are not the only program breaking in a new head coach this season. Long-time Creighton head coach Greg McDermott finally retired after 16-year run in Omaha, and with it a career 1-9 record against K-State that included a 1-7 run while leading the Iowa State program for four seasons prior to taking over from Dana Altman at Creighton.
McDermott is succeeded by Alan Huss, who is in his second year back at Creighton after re-joining the Blue Jays staff last season as associate head coach after a very successful two-year stint a High Point. Huss has Creighton off to a 2-0 start, but also picked up two impressive wins in exhibition play over Iowa State and Minnesota. This squad maybe lacks some of the discipline of the McDermott squads, but they are capable of scoring tons and will give a bigger fight than CSUN last Friday.
Creighton is a slight favorite on the road tonight, and that feels about right. If K-State plays like they did against CSUN, or better, they’ll have a chance to make a game of it.
We’ve got an 8:00pm CT tipoff from Bramlage Colisuem, and you can catch the action on FS1 with Jack Kizer (play-by-play) and Donny Marshall (analyst) on the call.
If you don’t have FS1 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 atK-Statesports.com and via the Varsity Network app, and on satellite radio at Sirius 263. Live stats are also available at k-statesports.com, and social media updates (@KStateMBB) will also be a part of the coverage.
