Kansas State basketball headed to Kansas City to face improved Nebraska team

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For years, Kansas State has scheduled neutral-site games in either Kansas City or Wichita in order to accommodate Wildcat basketball fans in the state's two major metropolitan areas.

But while first-year coach Jerome Tang sees value in Saturday's 6 p.m. game against Nebraska at the T-Mobile Center, he's still not 100% sold on the idea.

"I'm going to talk with Casey Scott (associate athletics director and sport administrator for men's basketball) and find out what's best for our athletic department," Tang said Thursday as his 9-1 Wildcats prepared to face an improved 6-5 Nebraska team in the Wildcat Classic. "What I normally like to do is play neutral-site games in areas that we recruit, so that way we can use it as a carrot for a kid — 'We're going to play in Dallas, or we're going to play in New Orleans.'

"So, I want to recruit the state (of Kansas) if there's a kid here that can help us win. And so if that helps us in recruiting, it's something I want to do."

Potential recruiting benefits aside, playing in Kansas City should provide somewhat of a home-court feel for the Wildcats, whose nonconference games at Bramlage Coliseum — with the exception of a sellout against Wichita State — have drawn sparse crowds.

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"I'm excited. I don't know what the numbers are, (but) I'm hoping we have a really great crowd and it's a real home court advantage," Tang said. "There's nothing like playing in Bramlage when you have everybody packed in there.

"The fact we're playing at a neutral site. We're looking forward to it and it kind of gives you a setup for the Big 12 Tournament. I've never played in the Big 12 Tournament where we were at a home court advantage, so I'm looking forward to that."

Indeed, the game will give K-State an early look at T-Mobile Center, home of the Big 12 Tournament in March. Tang has been there numerous times as a former Baylor assistant coach, but never as a fan favorite.

The only current K-State players to experience T-Mobile Center are senior point guard Markquis Nowell and junior forward Ismael Massoud. They're also the only Wildcats who participated in last December's 67-58 victory over Nebraska at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln.

"I remember it was a hard-nosed and hard-fought battle," Nowell said of last year's game against the Cornhuskers, in which K-State trailed by 10 points early, closed the first half on an 18-2 run and held on down the stretch to win it. "I know that we won, but this year is pretty much different.

"They have a different team, a different style that they're playing with. They've got more balance as a team, and we have a new coaching staff. I feel like this year will be fun."

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Nebraska only has three players back who played in last year's game — forward Derrick Walker and guards C.J. Wilcher and Keisei Tominaga. The Huskers have five scorers averaging double figures, led by the 6-foot-9 Walker with 15.3 points and 8.8 rebounds and Tominaga with 11.5 points off the bench.

Nebraska scored an impressive 63-53 road victory over Creighton on Dec. 4, but since then opened Big Ten play with losses at No. 14 Indiana (81-65) and at home in overtime to No. 4 Purdue (65-62) last Saturday.

Nowell, who is K-State's second-leading scorer at 15.4 points per game and ranks second nationally in assists with an 8.2 average, had just 4 points and three assists last year against Nebraska. Massoud scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds.

T-Mobile Center has not been kind to K-State the past couple of years, resulting in a four-game losing streak dating back to the 2021 Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal against Tang's Baylor team. The Wildcats went 0-3 in the arena last year, losing to nationally-ranked Arkansas and Illinois by identical 72-64 scores in December and ending the season with a 73-67 Big 12 Tournament loss to West Virginia.

But Tang said he is less interested in the venue than in measuring the Wildcats' progress since their lone loss, a 76-64 setback at Butler on Nov. 30.

"(Neutral-side games) all serve a purpose," he said. "This game to me is closer to, not necessarily in location, but team-wise, to the Butler game.

"A want to see if some of the changes we made and how we prepare for it, our travel and all that, have made a difference."

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball to take on Nebraska in Kansas City