Preview // K-State Opens Homestand Tuesday Night vs. Utah

Tuesday, January 20

Manhattan, Kan.

8 p.m. CT

Kansas State University

Utah

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Preview // K-State Opens Homestand Tuesday Night vs. Utah

Jan 19, 2026 | Men's Basketball

K-State Notes (.pdf)Utah Notes (.pdf)Watch (CBS Sports Network)Listen Live (K-State Sports Network)Live Stats Program (.pdf)

The Wildcats and Utes will meet for just the second time in the Big 12 era.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State (9-9, 0-5 Big 12) opens a 2-game homestand on Tuesday night with a first-ever visit from Utah (9-9, 1-4 Big 12) to Bramlage Coliseum. Tip is set for 8:05 p.m. and will air nationally on CBS Sports Network with Tom McCarthy and Chris Walker on the call.

The Wildcats are looking to end a 5-game losing streak to open Big 12 play. The 0-5 start to league play is just the sixth such start in school history and the first since the inaugural season of the Big 12 in 1996-97. Three of the 5 games have come on the road, while two have come against Top 10 foes BYU and Arizona. The 1996-97 team lost their first 9 league games before winning their 10th.

Getting stops has been a big part of the 0-5 start, with the Wildcats allowing 87.4 points on 46.8 percent shooting with 43.6 points coming in the paint. They also rank last in the Big 12 in defensive rebounds (44.4) and rebound margin (-9.6) with opponents averaging 19.6 second-chance points.

Led by first-year head coach Alex Jensen, the Utes are off to a 9-9 start, including a 1-4 mark in Big 12 play, after opening the season with 5 straight wins. They are led by one of the top scorers in the nation in junior Terrence Brown, who is third in the Big 12 in scoring at 21.6 points per game. This will just the fifth meeting, including the second in Big 12 play, with each team winning twice.

Although the schools have played just 4 times, they share Hall of Fame head coach Jack Gardner, who was head coach at K-State twice from 1939-42 and 1946-53 before becoming head coach at Utah from 1953-71. He is one of 3 head coaches to lead two different schools to the Final Four twice, leading the Wildcats to the Final Four in 1948 and 1951 and the Utes in 1961 and 1966.

GAME 19
KANSAS STATE (9-9, 0-5 Big 12) vs UTAH (9-9, 1-4 Big 12)
Tuesday, January 20, 2026 | 8:05 p.m., CT | Bramlage Coliseum (11,010) | Manhattan, Kan.

TELEVISION
CBS Sports Network (online link)

Tom McCarthy (play-by-play)
Chris Walker (analyst)
Mike Pittman (producer)

RADIO
K-State Sports Network
Flagships: // KMAN 1350 & WIBW 580
Satellite Radio: Ch. 387
Online: Varsity Network [free] / www.kstatesports.com/watch [free]

Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play)
Stan Weber (lead analyst)

LIVE STATS
kstate.statbroadcast.com

COACHES
K-State: Jerome Tang [Charter Oak State College '07]
Record at K-State: 70-51/4th Year
Career Record: 72-51*/4th Year+
vs. Utah: 0-1 (0-0 at home)

Utah: Alex Jensen (Utah '05)
Record at Utah: 9-9/1st Year
Career Record: 9-9/1st Year
vs. K-State: 0-0 (0-0 on the road)

LAST GAME STARTERS:
K-State (9-9)
G: #4 P.J. Haggerty
G: #1 Abdi Bashir Jr.
G: #34 Nate Johnson
W: #15 Taj Manning
W: #21 Khamari McGriff

Utah (9-9)
G: #2 Terrence Brown
G: #3 Don McHenry
F: #0 Seydou Traore
F: #7 Keanu Dawes
F: #32 James Okonkwo

SERIES HISTORY

Overall: Tied 2-2
Big 12 era: Utah leads 1-0 (1-0 in regular season)
In Manhattan: K-State leads 1-0
At Bramlage Coliseum: First meeting
Active Streak: Utah, 2
Last Meeting: Utah won 74-69 (2/17/2025)
Jerome Tang vs. Alex Jensen: 0-0

A K-STATE WIN WOULD…

Snap a 5-game losing streak in Big 12 play.
Break a tie in the all-time series with Utah.
Be the first-ever at Bramlage Coliseum over Utah.
Make the Wildcats 227-284 all-time in Big 12 play.
Give the Wildcats a 1766-1264 all-time record.

LAST TIME OUT

Sophomore Vyctorius Miller connected on all 3 free throws after being fouled with 2.8 seconds left, as Oklahoma State came from behind to post an 84-83 win in a back-and-forth affair on Saturday night before 6,838 fans at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
In a game that included 13 lead changes and 11 ties, K-State (9-9, 0-5 Big 12) took an 83-81 lead with 49 seconds remaining on junior P.J. Haggerty's jumper. On the ensuing possession, junior guard Kanye Clary twice missed from 3-point range with Oklahoma State (14-4, 2-3 Big 12) each time getting the offensive rebound, including on a jump ball with 4 seconds left.
Miller received the inbounds pass in the corner and was fouled by junior Abdi Bashir Jr. as he attempted to swap down at the ball, resulting in 3 free throws. After Miller's 3 free throws gave the Cowboys an 84-83 lead, the Wildcats still had an opportunity to win. The inbounds pass was caught by junior Taj Manning at midcourt, where he called K-State's last timeout with 2.1 seconds. However, Haggerty's 3-point attempt on the final possession fell short as the buzzer sounded.
Haggerty paced four Wildcats in double figures with 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range, to go with 8 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal while playing all 40 minutes. He has now scored 20 or more points 13 times with double figures in all 18 games. He is the first Wildcat to open a season with 18 consecutive games in double figures since Jacob Pullen in 2009-10.
Joining Haggerty in double figures was Bashir with 15 points, including his seventh game with 5 or more 3-point field goals, along with senior Nate Johnson and Khamari McGriff was 14 points each. McGriff went a perfect 7-of-7 from the field, becoming the eighth player to go 7-of-7 or better from the field in a conference game and the first since Antonio Gordon in 2020.
OSU led 48-43 after ending the first half on a 7-2 run then continued that momentum with 8 of the first 11 points out of halftime to take a double-digit lead at 56-46 and force a timeout by head coach Jerome Tang at the 17:15 mark. From there, K-State scored 15 of the next 20 points to register the first of 7 ties in the second half at 61-all.
The Wildcats went ahead 67-64 near the midway point before the teams battled through ties of 67-all, 69-all and 71-all. After a McGriff dunk gave the visitor a 73-72 lead, the home team responded with 5 straight points, including a 3-pointer from senior big man Parsa Fallah to go back ahead 77-73 with 5:12 remaining. However, the Wildcats didn't go away, as 3-pointers from senior C.J. Jones and Haggerty plus a dunk by Johnson made it 81-79 at the final media timeout with 92 seconds left. The Cowboys tied it at 81-all on a Clary jumper with 1:15 to play before the final sequence.
K-State recorded its 13th game of 80 or more points, connecting on 50 percent (33-of-66) from the field, including 55.2 percent (16-of-29) in the second half. The Wildcats knocked down 15 made 3-pointers on 44.1 percent (15-of-34) shooting, which tied for the second-most in a Big 12 game and fifth-most in any game in school history.
OSU shot just 41.2 percent (28-of-68) from the field with 5 less field goals and 7 fewer 3-point field goals but made up for it by scoring 26 points off 16 K-State turnovers while converting on 20-of-24 attempts (83.3 percent) from the free throw line. The Cowboys had just 7 turnovers.
Senior Anthony Roy led the Cowboys with a game-high 23 points on 7-of-15 field goals, including 3-of-9 from 3-point range, and 6-of-7 free throws. He was joined in double figures by Fallah, who had a near double-double with 17 points and a game-high 9 rebounds, and Clary, who had 12 points and a game-high 6 assists.
The Cowboys continued to give the Wildcats fits at Gallagher-Iba Arena, raising their record to 18-5 in the Big 12 era with wins in 6 of the last 7 meetings.