Game Preview // K-State Ends Homestand vs. NAU Monday

GAME #4
KANSAS STATE (3-0) vs NORTHERN ARIZONA (0-3)
Monday, November 20, 2017 >> 7:10 p.m. CT >> Bramlage Coliseum (12,528) >> Manhattan, Kan.

TELEVISION
FOX Sports Kansas City // K-StateHD.TV [free] // ESPN3

Ben Boyle (play-by-play)
Stan Weber (analyst)

Channel Listing: DirecTV 671-5 [HD] / Dish 451 or 412-39 / AT&T U-Verse 750 [SD] or 1750 [HD]

RADIO
K-State Sports Network

Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play)
Matt Walters (analyst)

Listen Online: TuneIn.com [free] // www.kstatesports.com/watch [free]
Satellite Radio: None

LIVE STATS
www.kstatesports.com
kstate.statbroadcast.com [media only]

TICKETS
www.kstatesports.com/tickets
(800) 221.CATS [2287]

Single Game       $10 (bench & GA)/$20 (chairback)
Wildcat 4 Pack   $30 (4 GA tickets)
Group (12+)        $5

COACHES
Kansas State: Bruce Weber (Wis.-Milwaukee '78)
Overall: 416-223/20^th season
At K-State: 103-68/6^th season
vs. NAU: 0-0

Northern Arizona: Jack Murphy (Arizona '96)
Overall: 63-104/6th season
At NAU: Same
vs. Kansas State: 0-0

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP
Kansas State (3-0)
G: #3 Kamau Stokes
G: #5 Barry Brown, Jr.
G: #20 Xavier Sneed
F: #32 Dean Wade
F: #14 Makol Mawien

Northern Arizona (0-3)
G: #0 Torry Johnson
G: #3 Gino Littles
G/F: #32 Chris Bowling
F: #25 Brooks Debisschop
F: #33 Isaiah Thomas

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: First meeting
In Manhattan: First meeting
Last Meeting: n/a
Weber vs. Murphy: First meeting

OPENING TIP

Kansas State (3-0) concludes the home portion of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational by hosting Big Sky foe Northern Arizona (0-3) at 7 p.m., on Monday night at Bramlage Coliseum. The contest concludes a long homestand for the Wildcats, as they have played six consecutive home games (three exhibitions), including the first three regular-season tilts in the friendly confines of Bramlage Coliseum. The team is in the midst of a playing six games in a 15-day stretch to start the season.
K-State begins the main draw of the Las Vegas Invitational on Thanksgiving Day when they face Pac-12 foe Arizona State (4-0) at 6 p.m. CT, in the second semifinal at the Orleans Arena. The winner will play either George Washington (2-1) or No. 15/17 Xavier (3-0) for tournament title on?Friday at 4:30 p.m., CT. It marks the second appearance in the Las Vegas Invitational and the first since 2008.
The Wildcats will face a first-time opponent for the third time in their first four games on Monday, as they welcome Northern?Arizona (0-3) to Bramlage Coliseum. The Lumberjacks have lost their first three games of the season with two coming against Pac-12 opponents Arizona (101-67) and Arizona State (97-62). K-State is 17-5 (.773) all-time against Big Sky teams, including 15-3 (.833) at home.
K-State is attempting to start 4-0 for 10th time in the last 15 seasons, including the third consecutive season. The Wildcats have started 3-0 or better 13 times in the last 15 seasons with the exception being the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons when the squad started 2-1. K-State has started 4-0 at home eight times in last nine years, including three straight years. Last season, the team started the season 5-0 (with an 11-2 non-conference mark) before suffering their first loss to No. 23 Maryland.
The Wildcats have won 19 consecutive games against non-conference opponents in home venues (18 at Bramlage Coliseum). Overall, the school has a 92-5 (.948) record at home venues in non-conference play since 2006-07, including 85-5 (.944) at Bramlage Coliseum, and has won 79 of their last 82 non-conference home games.
K-State moved to 3-0 on the season for the 13th time in the last 15 seasons with a 71-49 win over preseason Big West favorite UC Irvine, 71-49, on Friday night. The Wildcats were once again stellar on the defensive end, holding the Anteaters to just 29.6 percent shooting (16-of-54), including 20 percent (4-of-20) from 3-point range, while scoring 21 points off of 17 turnovers. Junior Kamau?Stokes became the third different leading scorer, as he led three players in double figures with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Sophomore Xavier Sneed scored in double figures for the second straight game with 12 points, while reserve guard Cartier?Diarra added 10 points.
The Wildcats are allowing a Big 12-best 48.3 points per game through the first three games on 28.8 percent shooting (46-of-160), including 25.3 percent (20-of-79) from 3-point range. The 145 total points allowed through the first three games are the lowest since allowing 133 through the first three games of the 2012-13 season. The team is forcing an average of 17.3 turnovers per game and averaging 21.7 points per game off those turnovers.

NOTES ON NORTHERN ARIZONA

Northern Arizona enters Monday's game with a 0-3 record after dropping a 97-62 decision at Arizona State on Friday night. The Lumberjacks connected on just 31.7 percent (19-of-60) from the field, including 24.1 percent (7-of-29) from 3-point range, while allowing the Sun Devils to hit on 52.2 percent with a pair of 20-point scorers. Reserve Karl Harris scored a team-high 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting with three treys, while sophomore JoJo Anderson added 11 points.
NAU opened the season with a loss at Arizona (67-101) on Nov. 10 before dropping its home opener to Embry-Riddle (70-82) on Nov. 13. The squad was picked 11th (out of 12 teams) in the preseason Big Sky coaches poll with 23 points, while they were 10th in the media preseason poll with 59 points.
The Lumberjacks are averaging 66.3 points per game on 35.6 percent shooting, including 25.4 percent from 3-point range, with 33.7 rebounds, 12.3 assists, 5.3 steals and 2.7 blocks per game, while allowing opponents to average 93.3 points on 52.8 percent shooting, including 39.7 percent from long range. The team is averaging 17.3 turnovers per game.
Sophomore Chris Bowling is the only NAU?player to average in double figures at 11.0 points per game on 35.3 percent shooting, including 36.4 percent from 3-point range. Harris is second in scoring at 9.3 points per game, while Anderson (7.7 ppg.), junior Torry Johnson (7.3 ppg.), junior Isaiah Thomas (6.7 ppg.) and senior Gino Littles (6.0 ppg.) are all averaging better than 6.0 points per game. Thomas leads the way in rebounding at 4.7 boards per game.
A former assistant with the NBA's Denver Nuggets (2006-09) and Memphis (2009-12), Jack Murphy enters his sixth season at Northern Arizona with a 63-104 (.377) overall record. He led the Lumberjacks to a 23-win season in 2014-15, including a runner-up finish in the CIT.

SERIES HISTORY

This will be the first meeting between K-State and Northern Arizona on the hardwood.
K-State is 17-5 all-time against teams from the Big Sky Conference, including a 15-3 mark at home. The Wildcats have played Eastern Washington (3-0), Idaho State (1-0), Montana (1-1), Montana State (2-1), North Dakota (2-0), Northern Colorado (2-3), Portland State (1-0), Sacramento State (1-0) and Southern Utah (4-0). The team has won 12 of its last 13 meetings with Big Sky teams with two straight victories.

NON-CONFERENCE HISTORY

K-State has a 92-5 (.949) record at home venues (includes both home games played at Bramlage Coliseum and the Sprint Center) in non-conference game dating back to the 2006-07 season, including an 85-5 (.944) mark at Bramlage Coliseum. The Wildcats have won 79 of their last 82 non-conference home games, including their current 19-game winning streak in home non-conference games.
K-State went 8-0 in non-conference games played at home venues in 2016-17 (7-0 at Bramlage Coliseum and 1-0 at the Sprint Center) with an average margin of victory of 19.1 points per game. The last home non-conference loss came in a 50-46 loss to Georgia on Dec. 31, 2014.
Overall, the Wildcats went 11-2 in non-conference play in 2016-17, which included a pair of road victories at Saint Louis (84-53) and Colorado State (89-70). The two setbacks came to No. 23 Maryland (69-68) on Nov. 26, 2016 at the Barclays Center Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y., and at Tennessee (70-58) in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Jan. 28, 2017. The team has won double-digit non-conference games each of the past two seasons (23 total/23-5 record) since posting a 7-6 record in 2014-15.

HISTORY AT BRAMLAGE COLISEUM

K-State has posted a 355-113 (.758) all-time record at Bramlage Coliseum since its opening during the 1988-89 season. The 355 victories are the second-most at a home venue for the Wildcats, trailing the 378 wins at Ahearn Field House (1950-88).
K-State has collected a 154-33 (.822) record at home over the past 12 seasons, including a 66-28 (.702) mark in Big 12 play. The 154 wins rank fourth among Big 12 schools in that span, while the 66 league victories at home are only surpassed by Kansas and Texas. In all, the school has earned double-digit victories in 24 of its 29 seasons in the arena, including a current streak of 16 consecutive seasons.
The Wildcats have a 215-56 (.792) record at home, including a 127-10 (.926) mark in non-conference action, since the 2001-02 season for an average of just over 13 home wins (13.3) per season. Last season, the team went 11-5 at home, including 7-0 in non-conference play.
Head coach Bruce Weber has a 70-17 (.800) record at Bramlage Coliseum since taking over at K-State in 2012-13 with non-conference home losses to Northern Colorado (2013), Texas Southern (2014) and Georgia (2014). The 17 losses (14 of which have come in Big 12 play) have come by a grand total of 99 points or just 5.8 points per game. Among the 70 victories are 12 over ranked teams, including top-ranked Oklahoma in 2016.

DEFENSIVE PROWESS

K-State has impressed on defense to start the season, allowing a Big 12-best 48.3 points through the first three games while holding its opposition to a Big 12-best 28.8 percent shooting (46-of-160), including 25.3 percent (20-of-79) from long range. The 145 points are the fewest points through the first three games since allowing 133 through the first three games of the 2012-13 season. The 96 points through the first two games were the fewest since the introduction of the shot clock and fewest since allowing 94 to start the 1981-82 season.
Only four times in the modern era (since 1950-51) has a K-State team allowed 55 points or less to each of its first three opponents, as the 2017-18 squad joins the 1980-81 (157 points allowed), the 1981-82 (140) and the 2012-13 teams (133 points) to accomplish the feat.
The Wildcats have held their first three opponents 45, 51 and 49 points, respectively, as they have now held 61 opponents to 60 points or less under head coach Bruce Weber's direction with the squad boasting a 54-7 (.885) mark in those contests (losses to Kansas in 2012, Northern Colorado and Kentucky in 2013, Texas Southern and Georgia in 2014, Texas and Oklahoma State in 2016 and West Virginia in 2017).
The 45 points by American (11/10/17) were the fewest points allowed in an opener since holding South Dakota to 45 points in a 50-point win on Nov. 29, 1986, while the 38 points was the largest margin of victory since also winning by the same margin against Loyola Chicago on Nov. 13, 2009. UMKC, which scored 100 points twice in four games so far, was held to just 51 points on 26 percent shooting (13-of-50), including 28.6 percent (8-of-28) from 3-point range. It was the fewest points scored by the up-tempo Kangaroos since scoring 43 at Oklahoma State on Dec. 29, 2015.
K-State has put up some impressive defensive numbers under Weber, leading the Big 12 in scoring defense twice in the past five seasons (60.4 ppg., in 2012-13 and 65.4 ppg., in 2013-14). Since his arrival in 2012-13, the Wildcats are allowing opponents just 64.8 points per game (11,084 points) on 42.4 percent shooting (3838-9049), including 32.3 percent (976-3021) from 3-point range.
Under Weber's direction, K-State has an 88-25 (.777) record when holding an opponent to 69 points or less since 2012-13 and a 15-43 (.259) mark when allowing an opponent to score 70 or more points.

HISTORY OF STRONG STARTS

K-State is looking to continue a history of strong starts to season on Monday, as the Wildcats have jumped out to a 4-0 record or better nine times in the last 14 years. After Friday's win over UC?Irvine, the team has now been at least 3-0 14 times in the last 15 seasons, including the third consecutive season.
The Wildcats have started 2-0 (2014-15), 4-0 (2015-16) and 5-0 (2016-17) in each of the last three seasons after dropping their opener to Northern Colorado in 2013. The 5-0 start last season was the best since the 2012-13 season. The squad has started 5-0 five times in the last 15 seasons, including 2004-05 (8-0), 2008-09 (5-0), 2011-12 (5-0), 2012-13 (5-0) and 2016-17 (5-0).
The best start in the last 15 seasons came in 2004-05 when K-State won each of its first eight games en route to a 10-1 start to the season. The best-ever start to a season came in 1918-19 when the squad opened the year 17-0 before losing their last two games to finish 17-2 and win the Missouri Valley Conference title under head coach Zora Clevenger for the second time in three seasons.
Other impressive starts to a season include 7-0 in 1915-16, 10-0 in 1947-48, 9-0

OFFENSIVE BALANCE CONTINUES

One of the hallmarks of the 2016-17 NCAA?Tournament team was its offensive balance, as four of five starters averaged in double figures led by Wesley Iwundu (13.0 ppg.), Kamau Stokes (11.7 ppg.), Barry Brown (11.7 ppg.) and D.J. Johnson (11.3 ppg.). The last time K-State saw four players average in double digits was 2009-10, while you would have to go all the way back to 1980-81 to find four Wildcat starters in double figures.
That balance continued to start the 2017-18 season as four of the team's five starters tallied double figures in the Wildcats' 83-45 win over American (11/10). In all, five players registered double figures as 10 posted at least one made field goal. Junior Dean Wade led all scorers with 17 points on 6-of-7 field goals, while redshirt freshman Cartier Diarra (13 points), sophomore Makol Mawien (12) and juniors Barry Brown, Jr. (10) and Kamau Stokes (10) each tallied double digits. The other starter - Xavier Sneed - nearly recorded double figures, finishing with 8 points.
K-State saw four players scored in double figures in the win over UMKC (11/14), as Brown scored a game-high 14 points followed by Sneed's first double-digit outing of the year with 13 points to go with 11-point efforts from Wade and junior Mawdo Sallah. Three players registered double figures against UC?Irvine on Friday night led by Stokes' game-high 14 points, joining Sneed (12) and Diarra (10).
In all, the Wildcats have seen seven players total 12 double-digit scoring games this season with 12 different players registered at least one made field goal. Brown, Diarra, Sneed Stokes and Wade have each posted double-figure scoring games twice in three games.
At least four Wildcats scored in double figures in 19 of 35 games in 2016-17, including at least three in 28 games. In all, nine players had at least one double-digit scoring game with six having at least 12 double-digit scoring games led by Iwundu's 26. The other four starters had at least 17 double-figure scoring games. In all, starters were responsible for 78 percent of the team's 2,523 points and 848 made field goals.

SOLID DEBUTS FOR NEWCOMERS

Redshirt freshman Cartier Diarra and transfers Makol Mawien and Mawdo Sallah have each been impressive to start the season.
Diarra and Mawien each posted double figures in their debuts against American (11/10), as Diarra scored 13 points off the bench on 4-of-5 field goals, including all four 3-pointers to go with 4 assists, while Mawien nearly totaled a double-double with 12 points on 5-of-7 field goals and game-highs with 9 rebounds and 2 blocks.
It was Sallah's turn against UMKC (11/14), as he came off the bench to miss a double-double by one rebound with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting with a game-high 9 rebounds.
Diarra turned in his second double-digit scoring games with 10 points against UC?Irvine on Friday.

RECAPPING EXHIBITION PLAY

K-State posted a 3-0 mark in exhibition play, beginning with a 78-62 win over Missouri State in a charity game on Oct. 21 followed by victories over Fort Hays State (79-56) on Oct. 29 and Emporia State (77-44) on Nov. 3.
With the wins, K-State is now 66-20 all-time in exhibition play, including 51-9 in home exhibition games. The Wildcats are 45-9 in exhibition games at Bramlage Coliseum with 23 consecutive wins dating back to 2003. Overall, the team has now won six straight in exhibition play since 2016.
The Wildcats averaged 78.0 points in exhibition play on 51.8 percent shooting (88-of-170), including 34.6 percent (18-of-52) from 3-point range, to go with 36.7 rebounds, 16.7 assists, 11.0 steals and 3.3 blocks per game. They hold their three opponents to 54 points on 33.1 percent shooting (52-of-157), including 31 percent (22-of-71) from 3-point range. The team forced their opponents into 55 turnovers (with 33 steals) and scored 77 points off those miscues.
K-State held advantages in points in the paint (34.7 to 17.3 per game), points off turnovers (25.7 to 14.3 per game), second-chance points (12.0 to 6.3 per game), fast-break points (13 to 4.0 per game) and bench points (28.0 to 23.1 per game).
Junior Dean Wade paced five players in double figures with a team-high 13.7 points per game average on 64 percent shooting (16-of-25) to go with a team-best 6.7 rebounds per game. Sophomore Xavier Sneed was second in both scoring (12.3 ppg.) and rebounding (5.3 rpg.), while juniors Barry Brown, Jr. (10.7 ppg., 4.7 rpg., 3.7 apg.) and Kamau Stokes (10.5 ppg., 3.5 apg.) and redshirt freshman Cartier Diarra (10.0 ppg., 3.7 apg.) also averaged double figures.

ONE OF THE YOUNGEST TEAMS

K-State is one of 15 schools nationally (Auburn, American, Bowling Green, UC Irvine, The Citadel, Holy Cross, Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, Marquette, Montana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Toledo and Wofford) to have one or fewer seniors on its roster in 2017-18, while the Wildcats' nine freshmen (true and redshirt) and sophomores ranks nine nationally and are only surpassed by the 12 at Auburn and Kentucky, 11 by UC Irvine, 10 each by American, The Citadel, Tennessee, Toledo and Wofford.

K-STATE WELCOMES SHAUN WILLIAMS

Head coach Bruce Weber announced the signing of Shaun Williams (St. Louis, Mo./Hazelwood Central) on the first day of the National Signing Period Wednesday.
A 6-foot-3, 170-pound guard, Williams led Hazelwood Central in 12 categories en route to helping the Hawks to a 17-11 record and a trip to the Class 5, District 3 Championship Game. He averaged a team-best 18.6 points on 47.4 percent shooting (155-of-237), including 35.2 percent (38-of-108) from 3-point range, to go with 3.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He connected on a team-best 83.8 percent (98-of-117) from the free throw line. He was a First Team Class 5 All-State selection by the Missouri Basketball?Coaches Association as a junior.

UP NEXT: ARIZONA STATE (4-0)

K-State hits the road for the first time this week, as the Wildcats travel to Las Vegas to take on Arizona State (4-0) on Thanksgiving Day at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationally on FOX Sports 1 with Rich Waltz and Jim Jackson on the call.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Barry Brown, Jr.

Cartier Diarra

Makol Mawien

Mawdo Sallah

Xavier Sneed

Kamau Stokes

Dean Wade

Kansas State University Athletics