K-State Wildcats vs. Texas Longhorns: Lineups, time, TV, betting preview, prediction

THE DETAILS

When: 3 p.m. Saturday

Where: Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan

TV: ESPN2

Radio: KCSP (610 AM) in Kansas City, KKGQ (92.3 FM) in Wichita

Betting line: K-State by 1

Over/Under: 151

STARTING LINEUPS

About Texas (18-4, 7-2 Big 12):

The Longhorns are in sole possession of first place at the midway point of the Big 12 basketball season. That comes as a bit of a surprise given that Chris Beard was fired earlier this season. But interim coach Rodney Terry has done a masterful job of keeping this team together. Marcus Carr is one of the best players in the conference, as he is averaging 16.7 points. One player to keep an eye on in this game outside of the starting lineup is Sir’Jabari Rice. The reserve guard is an excellent shooter and he was key during a recent Texas victory over Baylor.

About Kansas State (17-3, 6-2 Big 12):

The Wildcats are coming off a 90-78 road loss against rival Kansas. Returning home to the friendly confines of Bramlage Coliseum could do wonders for K-State. Jerome Tang’s team is a perfect 11-0 in Manhattan this season. One thing the Wildcats need to figure out is how to rotate big men at the five spot. Now that David N’Guessan is back in the starting lineup, finding the best combinations with Ismael Massoud, Abayomi Iyiola and N’Guessan has been a challenge. Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson continue to lead the team in scoring. The Wildcats could use a big game from sixth man Desi Sills in the near future. He has been stuck in a slump since he scored 24 points against Kansas last month.

Prediction

This is one of those classic Big 12 matchups where you have to completely disregard what happened in the first matchup between these two teams.

There is no way K-State sprints to another 116-103 victory over Texas the same way it did earlier this season in Austin.

Coaches like to say there are about five games in every season when their team plays at such a high level that losing feels impossible. That was one of those five games for K-State. Keyontae Johnson scored 28 points, Markquis Nowell poured in 36 and the Wildcats were simply on fire.

Expect a much lower scoring game in the rematch. Texas ranks among the top 40 nationally in overall defense and it will have revenge on its mind. No way the Longhorns want to get embarrassed against this team, again.

Thing is, this doesn’t need to be a high scoring game for K-State to emerge with a victory.

That is why I am picking the Wildcats to win a close one on Saturday. They are an excellent team at home and the Longhorns have been hard to trust on the road, losing by double digits at both Tennessee and Iowa State in their past five games.

For K-State, the keys to this game will be limiting turnovers and preventing Texas from scoring a bunch of easy points on layups on dunks. Texas forces a turnover on 22.4% of its opponents possessions. It is also shooting 56.1% from two-point range this season.

Those are usually big weaknesses for K-State that other teams can exploit. But the Wildcats have already proven they can beat Texas and now they get a chance to do it again with first place on the line.

With a sellout crowd behind them, I think the Wildcats prevail.

K-State 82, Texas 80

Last game prediction: KU 78, K-State 73 (Actual: KU 90, K-State 78)

Season record: 16-5

Season record against the spread: 12-9