Game Preview // 12/12 K-State Plays Missouri for Paradise Jam Title Monday

Monday, November 19

St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

6:30 p.m.

Kansas State University

Missouri

Game Preview // 12/12 K-State Plays Missouri for Paradise Jam Title Monday

Nov 19, 2018 | Men's Basketball

K-State Updated Stats (.pdf)Missouri Updated Stats (.pdf)Paradise Jam Bracket Watch Listen Live Stats

Game Preview // 12/12 K-State Plays Missouri for Paradise Jam Title Monday

GAME 5
12/12 KANSAS STATE (4-0) vs. MISSOURI (3-1)
Monday, November 19, 2018 >> 6:30 p.m., CT >> UVI Sports & Fitness Center (3,500) // St. Thomas USVI
19^th Annual U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam Championship

TELEVISION
FloHoops.com
Apple TV 4 and Roku [FloSports App]

Trevor Williams (play-by-play)
Kevin Lehman (analyst)

RADIO
K-State Sports Network

Brian Smoller (play-by-play)
Ben Boyle (analyst)

Listen Online: TuneIn.com [free] // www.kstatesports.com/watch [free]
Satellite Radio: Sirius 135 / XM 199 / Internet 953

LIVE STATS
https://paradise.sidearmstats.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary

TICKETS
UVI Sports & Fitness Ticket Office [cash only]
All-Tournament Pass: $150

COACHES
Kansas State: Bruce Weber (Wis.-Milwaukee '78)
Overall: 442-235/21^st season
At K-State: 129-80/7^th season
vs. Missouri: 7-4

Missouri: Cuonzo Martin (Purdue '00)
Overall: 209-135/11^th season
At Missouri: 23-14/2^nd season
vs. K-State: 0-0

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP
Kansas State (4-0)
G: #3 Kamau Stokes
G: #5 Barry Brown, Jr.
G: #20 Xavier Sneed
F: #32 Dean Wade
F: #14 Makol Mawien

Missouri (3-1)
G: #15 Jordan Geist
G: #4 Javon Pickett
G: #13 Mark Smith
F: #23 Jeremiah Tilmon
F: #24 Kevin Puryear

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: K-State leads 120-116 (series dates to 1907)
At Neutral Sites: K-State leads 16-8
Last Meeting: W, 66-42, 11/23/2015
Weber vs. Martin: 0-0

OPENING TIP

No. 12/11 Kansas State (4-0) concludes play in the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam on Monday, as the Wildcats take on former conference rival Missouri (3-1) at 6:30 p.m., CT in tournament's championship game. K-State has not won an in-season regular-season title since 2011.
Monday's matchup with the Tigers will represent the 237th meeting between the schools in a series that dates back to 1907. It is the second-most meeting between an opponent in school, trailing just the 289 meetings with Kansas, while 120 victories by the Wildcats are the second-most against one opponent, trailing just the 139 against Iowa State.
K-State holds a 120-116 advantage in the all-time series, including four consecutive wins. The Wildcats are 16-8 against the Tigers in games played at neutral sites. The schools last met in a regular season tournament in the semifinals of the 2015 CBE Hall of Fame Classic on Nov. 23, 2015 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.
K-State advanced to the championship game with a 64-48 victory over reigning Ivy League champion Penn on Sunday night, holding the Quakers to 30.6 percent shooting (15-of-49), including 28.6 percent (6-of-21) in the second half. Senior Dean Wade led the Wildcats in points (17), rebounds (8) and assists (4), while fellow senior Kamau Stokes added 16 points.
Missouri has wins over Kennesaw State (55-52) and Oregon State (69-63) to get to Monday's championship game. Senior Jordan Geist led all scorers with 21 points in the win over the Beavers, while fellow senior Kevin Puryear added 17 points and a game-high 7 rebounds.
The matchup between the Wildcats and Tigers in the tournament championship game will conclude the 19^th annual Paradise Jam. Other matchups include the seventh-place game between Kennesaw State (1-4) and Eastern Kentucky (2-3) at 12 p.m., CT, the fifth-place game between Northern Iowa (2-2) at 2 p.m., CT and the third-place game between Oregon State (3-1) and Penn (4-1) at 4:30 p.m., CT.
K-State has a 17-8 (.680) record in regular-season tournaments under head coach Bruce Weber, advancing to the tournament finals on three other occasions, including the 2012 NIT Season Tip-Off (losing to No. 4 Michigan, 71-57), 2015 CBE?Hall of Fame Classic (losing to No. 9 North Carolina, 80-70) and the 2016 Barclays Center Classic (losing to Maryland, 69-68). The team has also participated in the 2013 Puerto Rico Tip-Off (1-2 record), 2014 Maui Invitational (1-2 record) and 2017 Las Vegas Invitational (3-1).
K-State has not won an in-season tournament title since defeating Southern?Illinois, UTEP and Long Beach State to capture the 2011 Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, Hawai'i. The Wildcats also won tournament championships in 1990 (BMA?Holiday?Classic), 1993 (Hawai'i Nike Festival), 1994 (Capital City Classic), 1995 (Otis Spunkmeyer Classic) and 2006 (Las Vegas Holiday Classic).
Overall, the school now has a 125-78 (.616) all-time record in 76 in-season tournaments dating back to the program's first season in 1905, most of which came in the Big Six/Seven/Eight Holiday Tournament that ran in Kansas City from 1943 to 1978 and involved mostly members of the Big Six, Big Seven and Big Eight Conference teams.
K-State is making its second appearance at the Paradise Jam, which is making a return to the U.S. Virgin Islands after being relocated to Lynchburg, Va., and Liberty University last November due to hurricane damage. The Wildcats went 1-2 in their previous trip to the Paradise Jam, losing to BYU (64-73) and Toledo (50-58) before defeating Michigan, 82-71, in the consolation… The 19^th annual event is held at the UVI Sports and Fitness Center in St. Thomas.
Previous winners of the Paradise Jam include Maryland (2013), Seton Hall (2014), South Carolina (2015) and Creighton (2016) as well as Baylor (2007). Colorado won the latest title in 2017 with a 79-70 victory over Mercer in a field that included Drake, Drexel, Houston, host Liberty, Quinnipiac and Wake Forest.

NOTES ON MISSOURI

Missouri returns seven lettermen, including three starters (Jordan Geist, Kevin Puryear and Jeremiah Tilmon) from a squad that posted a 20-13 overall record and tied for fourth in the SEC with a 10-8 mark in 2017-18. The Tigers advanced to the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Florida State in the first round.
The Tigers are off to 3-1 start to season, defeating Central Arkansas (68-55), Kennesaw State (55-52) and Oregon State (69-63) with their only loss coming at Iowa State (76-59).
Missouri is 62.8 points on 39.8 percent shooting (86-of-216), including 29.1 percent (25-of-86) from 3-point range, to go with 37.2 rebounds, 11.3 assists, 5.8 steals and 2.0 blocks per game. The squad is shooting 69.2 percent (54-of-78) from the line. Foes are averaging 61.5 points on 38.1 percent shooting, including 33.3 percent from 3-point range.
Three players are averaging in double figures for the Tigers in sophomore Mark Smith (11.8 ppg.,), Kevin Puryear (11.5 ppg.) and Jordan Geist (10.0 ppg.). Smith is connecting on 47.1 percent from the field, including 50 percent from 3-point range, to go with 6.5 rebounds per game, while Puryear is connecting on 44.1 percent while averaging a team-best 7.0 rebounds. Geist leads the team with 2.8 assists per game.
Head coach Cuonzo Martin is in his 11^th season as a head coach, including his second at Missouri. He has a 209-135 record as a head coach, including a 23-14 mark at the helm of the Tigers. He has been head coach at Missouri State (2008-11), Tennessee (2011-14), California (2014-17) and now Missouri (2017-present). He has led teams to the postseason in eight of 10 seasons, including three trips to the NCAA Tournament.

SERIES HISTORY

Monday's matchup with the Tigers will represent the 237th meeting between the schools in a series that dates back to 1907. It is the second-most meeting between an opponent in school, trailing just the 289 meetings with Kansas, while 120 victories by the Wildcats are the second-most against one opponent, trailing just the 139 against Iowa State.
K-State holds a 120-116 advantage in the all-time series, including four consecutive wins. The Wildcats are 16-8 against the Tigers in games played at neutral sites. The schools last met in a regular season tournament in the semifinals of the 2015 CBE Hall of Fame Classic on Nov. 23, 2015 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.
The schools met as conference foes in five different conference, including the Missouri Valley (1914-28), Big Six (1929-47), Big Seven (1948-58), Big Eight (1959-96) and Big 12 (1997-2012) Conferences before Missouri left for the SEC in 2013.

K-STATE/MISSOURI?CONNECTIONS

Head coach Bruce Weber recruited and coached Missouri head coach Cuonzo Martin to Purdue, where the duo led the Boilermakers to a pair of Big Ten titles and a 90-37 four-year record. Purdue made four postseason appearances during that span, including the 1994 Elite Eight.
Missouri sophomore guard Mark Smith was recruited heavily by K-State before he signed with Illinois out of high school and transferred to Missouri in 2018.
K-State freshman Shaun Neal-Williams and Missouri freshman Torrence Watson are both from St. Louis and last met as high school seniors on Dec. 5, 2017, as Neal-Williams' Hazelwood Central defeated Watson's Whitfield, 74-62. Watson scored a game-high 29 points, while Williams had 15 points, 4 steals, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.

LAST TIME OUT: K-STATE 64, PENN 48

A 17-2 run to end the first half propelled No. 12/11 Kansas State past reigning Ivy League champion Penn, 64-48, on Sunday night in front of 2,460 fans at the UVI Sports & Fitness Center to advance to the championship game of the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam.
Down 19-11 with 7:16 remaining in the first half, the Wildcats finally got their offense going, as seniors Dean Wade and Barry Brown, Jr., scored on back-to-back possessions that cut the deficit and helped ignite the 17-2 run. After a lay-up by Penn's Devon Goodman that extended the lead to 21-15 with 4:59 to play, K-State scored 13 consecutive points to end the last 4:37 of the half and take a 28-21 lead into break.
The Quakers closed to within 46-40 on a jumper by junior A.J. Brodeur with 9:10 remaining, however, the Wildcats scored six straight points en route to ending the game on a 18-8 run.
K-State connected on 42.1 percent (24-of-57) from the field, including 50 percent (14-of-28) in the second half, while Penn shot just 30.6 percent (15-of-49), including 28.6 percent (6-of-21) after halftime. The Wildcats scored 20 or more points off turnovers for the fourth consecutive game with 22 points on 19 Quaker turnovers.

K-State held advantages in points in the paint (36-22) and bench points (23-14).
K-State has now held 72 opponents to 60 points or less in the Weber era with the Wildcats boasting a 65-7 mark in those contests… Penn was held to 48 points 30.6 percent shooting (15-of-49).
K-State scored 22 points off of 19 Penn turnovers, posting four consecutive games of 20 or more points off of turnovers to start the season… The team also totaled at least 7 steals for the fourth straight game.
Senior Dean Wade scored team-high 17 points on 7-of-15 field goals to go with team-tying 8 rebounds and a game-high 4 assists in 35 minutes… He has now scored in double figures in 66 career games… He has now led the team in scoring in 25 career games, in rebounding in 33 career games and in assists in 15 career games.

Senior Kamau Stokes scored a season-high 16 points on 6-of-11 field goals, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range, and 2-of-2 from the free throw line, to go with 2 rebounds and 2 assists in 38 minutes… He has now scored in double figures in 51 career games.
Junior Xavier Sneed scored in double figures in third straight game with 11 points to go with 2 rebounds, 2 assists and a season-high 4 steals in 28 games… He has now scored in double figures in 38 career games.
Junior Makol Mawien registered an impressive line, posting 5 points on 2-of-5 shooting to go with 8 rebounds and a career-high 4 blocks in 29 minutes.

K-STATE HAS HAD SUCCESS IN IN-SEASON TOURNAMENTS

K-State has registered a 125-78 (.612) all-time record in regular-season tournament play, which encompasses 76 tournaments dating back to school's first in-season tournament (Glasco Tournament) in 1905. The Wildcats have played in an in-season tournament every year since 2006-07.
Many of these tournament appearances came in the Big Six/Seven/Eight Holiday Tournament, which ran from 1943 to 1978 at Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium and Kemper Arena (Hy-Vee Arena). The Wildcats posted a 68-34 (.667) all-time mark in the Big Six/Seven/Eight Tournament, winning titles in 1947, 1950, 1952, 1958, 1960, 1961 and 1963.
K-State has a 57-44 (.556) record in other regular season tournaments in its history, winning six tournament titles, including the Kansas Tournament in Lawrence in 1959, the BMA Holiday Classic in Kansas City in 1990, the Hawai'i Nike Festival in Honolulu in 1993, the Capital City Classic in Tallahassee in 1994, the Otis Spunkmeyer Classic in Oakland in 1995 and the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu in 2011.
K-State has a 17-8 (.652) record in regular-season tournaments under head coach Bruce Weber, advancing to the tournament finals three times, including the 2012 NIT Season Tip-Off, 2015 CBE Hall of Fame Classic and the 2016 Barclays Center Classic. In his career, Weber's teams have won five in-season tournament titles, including the 2004 Las Vegas Invitational (Illinois), 2005 and 2008 South?Padre Island Invitational (Illinois), 2006 Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge (Illinois) and 2011 Cancun Challenge (Illinois).

REGULAR?SEASON?TOURNAMENTS UNDER?BRUCE?WEBER (17-8)
2012 NIT?Season Tip-Off (New York, N.Y.)

def.?Delaware, 66-63; lost to No. 4 Michigan, 71-57

2013 Puerto Rico Tio-Off (San Juan, P.R.)

lost to Charlotte, 68-61; lost to Georgetown, 90-63; def. LBSU, 52-38

2014 Maui Invitational (Maui, Hawai'i)

def. Purdue, 88-79; lost to No. 3 Arizona, 72-68; lost to Pittsburgh, 70-47

2015 CBE Hall of Fame Classic (Kansas City, Mo.)

def. Missouri, 66-42; lost to No. 9 North Carolina, 80-70

2016 Barclays Center Classic (Brooklyn, N.Y.)

def. Boston College, 72-54; lost to Maryland, 69-68

2017 Las Vegas Invitational (Las Vegas, Nev.)

lost to Arizona State, 92-90; def. George Washington, 67-59

2018 Paradise Jam (St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.)

def. Eastern Kentucky, 95-68; def. Penn, 64-48

'CATS HAVE BEEN STELLAR ON DEFENSE UNDER WEBER

K-State has put up some impressive defensive numbers under head coach Bruce Weber, leading the Big 12 in scoring defense twice in the last 6 years (60.4 ppg., in 2012-13 and 65.4 ppg., in 2013-14). Last season, the Wildcats held opponents to 67 points on 42.5 percent shooting.
After doing it three of four games this season, the Wildcats have now held 72 opponents to 60 points or less in Weber's tenure, boasting a 65-7 mark (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 41 points allowed to Kennesaw State in the opener were the fewest-ever in an opener at Bramlage Coliseum and the fewest in any home opener since holding Northern Iowa to 38 points on?Dec. 1, 1979. The Owls' 14 points second-half points were the fewest in any half since allowing 14 to Missouri in the first half of a 66-42 win on Nov. 23, 2015.
K-State has a 108-28 (.788) record under Weber when holding a foe to 69 points or less and a 21-52 (.288) when allowing 70 or more points.
K-State has scored more than 3,000 points (3,209) off turnovers during Weber's tenure, average of 15.4 points per game. In 2017-18, the Wildcats averaged 17.3 points per game off turnovers, including 15.9 points per game in Big 12 play, and outscored opponents, 639-423. The team has scored at least 20 points off of opponent turnovers in 13 games last season with a school-record 38 vs. Northern Arizona on Nov. 20 and 36 vs. USC?Upstate on Dec. 5, 2017.
The Wildcats have totaled at least 20 points off opponent turnovers in 38 games under Weber, including all 4 games this season (Kennesaw State (20), Denver (23), EKU (24) and Penn (22).
A?year ago, K-State ranked eighth nationally in total steals (294) and 18th in steals per game (7.9), while the school was one of just 5 nationally (Georgia State, Nicholls State, Purdue and Stephen F. Austin) with three players (Barry Brown, Jr., Dean Wade and Xavier Sneed) with 40 or more steals.

OTHER NOTABLE NOTES

Senior Barry Brown, Jr., moved into school's career Top 10 in scoring with his 10-point effort against Eastern Kentucky on Friday night, moving past Mitch Richmond (1,327 points; 1986-88)… He enters Monday's championship game with 1,342 points in 109 career games at K-State, which 22 points shy of Chuckie Williams (1,364; 1972-76) for ninth place.
Senior Dean Wade became the tallest player in school history to tally 200 career assists after his 3-assist night against Eastern Kentucky on Friday night, surpassing 6-foot-7s Wesley Iwundu and Ed Nealy… He is the 25^th Wildcat to tally at least 200 career assists, including third member of the team (joining Kamau Stokes and Barry Brown, Jr.).
Wade becomes the fourth Wildcat in school history with at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 200 assists in a career, joining Rolando Blackman, Wesley Iwundu and Ed Nealy.
After his 17-point outing against Penn, Wade now has 1,245 points, which ranks 16^th on the all-time list and just 4 shy of tying Wesley Iwundu (1,249; 2013-17) for 15^th place.
Senior Kamau Stokes enters Monday's game with 913 career points, becoming the 37^th player to total at 900 career points at K-State… He needs 87 points to join teammates Barry Brown, Jr. (1,342) and Dean Wade (1,245) to become first class to have 3 1,000-point scorers.