Alexander, Players Provide Update as Season Grows Closer
Oct 12, 2026 | Men's Basketball
Watch Casey Alexander’s Media AvailabilityWatch Gilhool/N’Diaye Media AvailabilityListen on Podcast page
The Wildcats are less than two weeks away from their first public exhibition.
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head men's basketball coach Casey Alexander, along with players junior Pape N'Diaye and sophomore Matt Gilhool, met with the media on Monday afternoon (October 12) as the start of the 2026-27 season gets closer.
Links to the video are above with a transcript of Alexander availability below.
The Wildcats are less than two weeks away from their first public exhibitions, beginning on Friday, October 23 against Missouri at Bramlage Coliseum followed by a road trip to Grand Island, Neb., to take on Nebraska on Monday, October 26. The first-year head coach and his staff welcome 14 players for the 2026-27 season. N'Diaye, who spent time at UNLV and Xavier, and Gilhool, who redshirted last season at LSU, are among 10 Division I transfers.
Season tickets are currently on sale to the general public. Single-game tickets for the 10-game non-conference schedule go on sale this week. Fans can purchase tickets by calling toll free at (800) 221.CATS (2287) and/or online at www.kstatesports.com/tickets.
HEAD COACH CASEY ALEXANDER
On what he learned from the closed scrimmage with Tulsa…
"Yeah, we learned a lot. It was very unusual to do it that early, but that was decision was made on purpose. Just felt like the earlier we could get some feedback, the better, and it served its purpose in a sense that it's just so different when you play with somebody else and you're in a different gym. You have got an opponent. You've got referees. There are circumstances that come up throughout the game that you know that that require attention that are really hard to recreate in practice. No matter how many intersquad scrimmages you have and things like that. So yeah, we learned a lot."
On the benefits of having multiple exhibition games…
"It's great. I mean, we get one extra one this year. But until a few years ago, you couldn't play Division I opponents. You could scrimmage a Division I opponent, but you couldn't have an exhibition game against a Division I opponent until COVID. So, the quality of those opportunities has really improved and made things better. You know, and I don't know if you guys saw starting next year we can actually do more. I think in the summer we'll have three opportunities in the summer where you can have a competition of some sort. It's currently three in in the fall, and then once practice starts, they're going to add three additional. I don't think that's finalized yet, but it's getting through the first hurdle or two. I mean, you get so much more access to players year around now that they're going from June until November and you only get those two contests, which are typically a week or two before the season starts. So, to be able to kind of accelerate some of that to get some feedback is really good."
On the players he is leaning on most early in the season…
"Obviously, the three captains. (Brandon) Rechsteiner and (Jaden) Schutt are going to play. They'll be starters. They'll play significant roles. They have a lot of experience. Brock's presence is great. He certainly is somebody that we'll count on as well. But those two guys would probably be the ones that out of the gate we rely on the most."
On a weakness that surfaced in the scrimmage…
"It was very unconventional for us in a sense that they were missing some frontline guys, and so we ended up playing a bunch of guards together that never practiced together. We were just forced into some situations defensively that we weren't prepared for. It's just not what we do, so there were some adjustments on the fly. We had combinations out there that were really surprising to me, but the moment required it a little bit, and so those are the kind of things again that are great. I think our response in practice in the last week regardless of whether we thought that it went well or not, you're gonna you really evaluate the video and to a heavy, heavy degree, and then really try to work on some things in response to that. And I felt like walking out of practice last Thursday compared to six days earlier in the scrimmage, we were a significantly better team, which is what you want at this stage. I think that one thing that was a little surprising to me, although maybe it shouldn't be, the communicating plays, executing plays those kinds of things. It's really easy in five on zero or even at five on five when the stakes aren't high, that that those are the areas where I was the most disappointed. Just the kind of the things that naturally come along with being a veteran team or a team that has a lot of retention. You're doing that for the first time. We were really not in sync like I would have wanted to be. So, we've really made some great improvement on that."
On the competition at the center spot…
I mean, we've got JT (Rock), Brock (Vice) and Pape (N'Diaye). All three of them are going to play. They'll play together some more when the opponent warrants two bigs at one time, but I think all three have had a good fall. I mean, we've got confidence in all three. They're very different in in a lot of ways. Pop's probably the best defensive presence as far as his ability to move and guard people and rim protection things like that. JT and Brock are pretty similar in a sense that they can really stretch the floor. They can score it inside, but their ability to pick and pop as big men will help us offensively a lot."
On where you have seen the most benefits from being at K-State…
"I would say that's an all-encompassing answer. I mean, you saw it on Saturday afternoon (before a packed Bill Snyder Family Stadium) for a 2:30 kickoff. It's great to be at a place where there's great passion for this university and these programs, and we've got everything we need. We always want more, and more is always better. But we've got what we need to be successful, and really excited about our future."
On how roles are changing day-by-day…
"Yeah, still changing. I can't remember if we talked about it last time or not. But injuries have a lot to say. Like last week, we practiced with 10 guys. We have 14 on the roster, but we ended up with 10 and practiced all four days. When you got guys out and kind of lose opportunity because of that, then that creates opportunity for others, and it's just kind of a never-ending scenario. Naturally, once we start playing games, we will kind of evolve into rotations and more specific roles. I'm still not too focused on that just yet."
On injuries…
I mean Timo is still not doing anything live, and so his is ongoing, and it will linger into the start of the year. But to what degree? Like, is he back playing a normal role by then. I don't know. Everybody else is more of a day-to-day, short-term thing. You know, but it all just kind of hit us at once."
On Matt Gilhool and his impact…
"He's one of those guys that was out last week. He's been out for about 10 days but expecting to be back in practice today. He just had a traditional redshirt year last year. I mean, physically he had some setbacks early that required him to redshirt. He wasn't even able to practice early in the season. Therefore, he decided to redshirt. Then they had a not so fun season, so he's kind of starting over, but he's got a lot of ability. He made us better when he was in the game when we scrimmaged Tulsa. He's just kind of a quick twitch big who can really get in and out of screens. He's got the ability to pick and pop. He is a good athlete who can play above the rim. So, that's the dynamic that he brings us so far."
On any player who surprised you in the scrimmage…
"I don't know about surprised. I mean (Brandon (Rechsteiner) had had an awesome day. We got a lot of good minutes out of Jaylen (Alexander) and Montana (Wheeler) as well, but again, that was kind of the uniqueness of that day. We ended up playing all of our guards together a lot more than I would have anticipated. You think about (Jaden) Schutt and the other guards. It was just we had two guards, three guards, out there a lot, and that's not how I see us playing a lot of our minutes as we move forward."
On how you approach the upcoming exhibitions in terms of playing time vs. the regular season…
"We'll treat them just like a (regular-season) game. I mean we're not going to show the whole arsenal and exhaust all options to try and win necessarily. It'll be a little bit more vanilla than you would normally see, but it is a real important opportunity for us to walk through a normal home game scenario when we play Mizzou and walk through a normal road game scenario when we play Nebraska as far as just how we prepare, how we do shootarounds, how we do video on game day, warmups and those kinds of things prior to the real thing on November 3. Those will be very beneficial to our team. We will definitely play to win, but it's not ultimately what we're going to be out there for."
On if leadership comes naturally to (Brandon) Rechsteiner and (Jaden) Schutt…
"I think so, and I think their history together actually helps as well. I definitely don't want to minimize anything. I didn't put Brock necessarily in that category, but I would expect those two guys to start and play 30 minutes a game. I'd be really surprised if it doesn't work itself out that way. You know, and so I just know they're going to be a really important part of the whole process from beginning to end. Brock's going to be important to the whole process, but that role is probably going to look a little bit different."
On if Jaylen Alexander is ahead of where you thought he would be…
"Yes. We knew he was a good player when we signed him at Belmont, and we felt like he was a Power conference guy, and he had plenty of interest and so forth. But we got a commitment from him early and signed him early, and then he goes on to be Gatorade Player of the Year. And so, we knew we were getting a really good player, and we brought him here because we felt like we knew he belonged at this level. But he's been exceptional, and more so in a sense that he's the one guy that we can count on, like defensively, to implement a drill into live play to get his assignment right. I mean, he's like way ahead of the game as far as his basketball maturity goes. Very confident. You know, he's got a really steady poise offensively. I felt like again going back to the scrimmage, I felt like he settled the whole team down when he was in the game, and just for a true freshman in his first college action, I felt like that was really impressive."
On where Isaiah Abraham has made the most progress…
"He missed the whole summer. He was here the whole summer but was battling a couple of different things and never did any live stuff. But since we've been back this fall, he's been full speed ahead and really made a big difference. I mean, he'll make a great contribution to the team. I'd be shocked if he's not one of those starting and playing 30 minutes a game. His ability to play both ends is helpful."
On Devin Hutcherson and his progress…
"Devin physically, athletically holds his own every day. The learning curve for him has been a little bit more difficult. Not anything that I'm that I have long-term worry about in any way, shape, or form. It's just more of a typical freshman scenario where it just takes guys a little bit longer to be comfortable, and sometimes that's a product of where they played or style of play. But he's progressing nicely. He's gonna be just fine."
On his depth at point guard being key to what he wants to do offensively…
"Well, it's always nice to have depth at every position. But we value that one quite a bit. And I literally would feel comfortable with any of those three guys being in the game right now, and we'll just have to see how much they play together. You know what those combinations look like, and so forth. But they're all good players, and they'll all help us."
On if he is comfortable with playing two point guards…
"We will definitely play with two. I just don't know how much. it's TBD. They're different. (Brandon) Rechsteiner made eight threes in the scrimmage. He's got a little bit more of that mentality. I'd say Jaylen (Alexander) is a lot more of what people would consider a pure point guard. Montana (Wheeler) can really heat up the ball defensively and is really quick from A to B and can kind of create some problems that way. So, there is diversity within that group that is helpful to us. It gives us some flexibility."
On Andrej Kostic and his progress…
"He's one of those guys that's been battling some injury as well, he will be in the mix. I wouldn't say that he's solidly in there right now. We got to get him healthy, and then he's got to string together some good practices. A week or two or three of good performances to get where he wants to be and where we would want him to be. So short term, we have to be patient. Long term, there's still plenty, plenty out there for him."
On if he is happy that the season is less than a month away or happy to still have time…
"No, I think we're ready to go. I mean, we can always use the time. Coaches love practicing and getting better and trying to get closer to perfect. But at the same time, it's two weeks from today we play Nebraska, and then then in my mind, we're officially in season, so we don't have very much time left to go. Just even the Tulsa scrimmage was great. Kind of turn one page, the response to that. You turn to another page, and you got a home exhibition. Turn that page. A road exhibition. You turn that page, and then it's full speed ahead. Really, we're ready to go."
On being at a school with football but with basketball season kind of sneaking up at this point…
"I think it's a hardship, but that's not the right word, but you know basketball's not on many radars across the country right now. We are about midway mark of college football season, and I'm as big a college football fan as there is anywhere, so I understand that. But we've got a job to do, and the great thing about K-State fans is they're supportive of both, and you know when our when our time comes, they'll be here, and we our job is to give them a reason for more of them to come out to games."
How to follow the 'Cats: For complete information on K-State men's basketball, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X, Instagram and Facebook.
Links to the video are above with a transcript of Alexander availability below.
The Wildcats are less than two weeks away from their first public exhibitions, beginning on Friday, October 23 against Missouri at Bramlage Coliseum followed by a road trip to Grand Island, Neb., to take on Nebraska on Monday, October 26. The first-year head coach and his staff welcome 14 players for the 2026-27 season. N'Diaye, who spent time at UNLV and Xavier, and Gilhool, who redshirted last season at LSU, are among 10 Division I transfers.
Season tickets are currently on sale to the general public. Single-game tickets for the 10-game non-conference schedule go on sale this week. Fans can purchase tickets by calling toll free at (800) 221.CATS (2287) and/or online at www.kstatesports.com/tickets.
HEAD COACH CASEY ALEXANDER
On what he learned from the closed scrimmage with Tulsa…
"Yeah, we learned a lot. It was very unusual to do it that early, but that was decision was made on purpose. Just felt like the earlier we could get some feedback, the better, and it served its purpose in a sense that it's just so different when you play with somebody else and you're in a different gym. You have got an opponent. You've got referees. There are circumstances that come up throughout the game that you know that that require attention that are really hard to recreate in practice. No matter how many intersquad scrimmages you have and things like that. So yeah, we learned a lot."
On the benefits of having multiple exhibition games…
"It's great. I mean, we get one extra one this year. But until a few years ago, you couldn't play Division I opponents. You could scrimmage a Division I opponent, but you couldn't have an exhibition game against a Division I opponent until COVID. So, the quality of those opportunities has really improved and made things better. You know, and I don't know if you guys saw starting next year we can actually do more. I think in the summer we'll have three opportunities in the summer where you can have a competition of some sort. It's currently three in in the fall, and then once practice starts, they're going to add three additional. I don't think that's finalized yet, but it's getting through the first hurdle or two. I mean, you get so much more access to players year around now that they're going from June until November and you only get those two contests, which are typically a week or two before the season starts. So, to be able to kind of accelerate some of that to get some feedback is really good."
On the players he is leaning on most early in the season…
"Obviously, the three captains. (Brandon) Rechsteiner and (Jaden) Schutt are going to play. They'll be starters. They'll play significant roles. They have a lot of experience. Brock's presence is great. He certainly is somebody that we'll count on as well. But those two guys would probably be the ones that out of the gate we rely on the most."
On a weakness that surfaced in the scrimmage…
"It was very unconventional for us in a sense that they were missing some frontline guys, and so we ended up playing a bunch of guards together that never practiced together. We were just forced into some situations defensively that we weren't prepared for. It's just not what we do, so there were some adjustments on the fly. We had combinations out there that were really surprising to me, but the moment required it a little bit, and so those are the kind of things again that are great. I think our response in practice in the last week regardless of whether we thought that it went well or not, you're gonna you really evaluate the video and to a heavy, heavy degree, and then really try to work on some things in response to that. And I felt like walking out of practice last Thursday compared to six days earlier in the scrimmage, we were a significantly better team, which is what you want at this stage. I think that one thing that was a little surprising to me, although maybe it shouldn't be, the communicating plays, executing plays those kinds of things. It's really easy in five on zero or even at five on five when the stakes aren't high, that that those are the areas where I was the most disappointed. Just the kind of the things that naturally come along with being a veteran team or a team that has a lot of retention. You're doing that for the first time. We were really not in sync like I would have wanted to be. So, we've really made some great improvement on that."
On the competition at the center spot…
I mean, we've got JT (Rock), Brock (Vice) and Pape (N'Diaye). All three of them are going to play. They'll play together some more when the opponent warrants two bigs at one time, but I think all three have had a good fall. I mean, we've got confidence in all three. They're very different in in a lot of ways. Pop's probably the best defensive presence as far as his ability to move and guard people and rim protection things like that. JT and Brock are pretty similar in a sense that they can really stretch the floor. They can score it inside, but their ability to pick and pop as big men will help us offensively a lot."
On where you have seen the most benefits from being at K-State…
"I would say that's an all-encompassing answer. I mean, you saw it on Saturday afternoon (before a packed Bill Snyder Family Stadium) for a 2:30 kickoff. It's great to be at a place where there's great passion for this university and these programs, and we've got everything we need. We always want more, and more is always better. But we've got what we need to be successful, and really excited about our future."
On how roles are changing day-by-day…
"Yeah, still changing. I can't remember if we talked about it last time or not. But injuries have a lot to say. Like last week, we practiced with 10 guys. We have 14 on the roster, but we ended up with 10 and practiced all four days. When you got guys out and kind of lose opportunity because of that, then that creates opportunity for others, and it's just kind of a never-ending scenario. Naturally, once we start playing games, we will kind of evolve into rotations and more specific roles. I'm still not too focused on that just yet."
On injuries…
I mean Timo is still not doing anything live, and so his is ongoing, and it will linger into the start of the year. But to what degree? Like, is he back playing a normal role by then. I don't know. Everybody else is more of a day-to-day, short-term thing. You know, but it all just kind of hit us at once."
On Matt Gilhool and his impact…
"He's one of those guys that was out last week. He's been out for about 10 days but expecting to be back in practice today. He just had a traditional redshirt year last year. I mean, physically he had some setbacks early that required him to redshirt. He wasn't even able to practice early in the season. Therefore, he decided to redshirt. Then they had a not so fun season, so he's kind of starting over, but he's got a lot of ability. He made us better when he was in the game when we scrimmaged Tulsa. He's just kind of a quick twitch big who can really get in and out of screens. He's got the ability to pick and pop. He is a good athlete who can play above the rim. So, that's the dynamic that he brings us so far."
On any player who surprised you in the scrimmage…
"I don't know about surprised. I mean (Brandon (Rechsteiner) had had an awesome day. We got a lot of good minutes out of Jaylen (Alexander) and Montana (Wheeler) as well, but again, that was kind of the uniqueness of that day. We ended up playing all of our guards together a lot more than I would have anticipated. You think about (Jaden) Schutt and the other guards. It was just we had two guards, three guards, out there a lot, and that's not how I see us playing a lot of our minutes as we move forward."
On how you approach the upcoming exhibitions in terms of playing time vs. the regular season…
"We'll treat them just like a (regular-season) game. I mean we're not going to show the whole arsenal and exhaust all options to try and win necessarily. It'll be a little bit more vanilla than you would normally see, but it is a real important opportunity for us to walk through a normal home game scenario when we play Mizzou and walk through a normal road game scenario when we play Nebraska as far as just how we prepare, how we do shootarounds, how we do video on game day, warmups and those kinds of things prior to the real thing on November 3. Those will be very beneficial to our team. We will definitely play to win, but it's not ultimately what we're going to be out there for."
On if leadership comes naturally to (Brandon) Rechsteiner and (Jaden) Schutt…
"I think so, and I think their history together actually helps as well. I definitely don't want to minimize anything. I didn't put Brock necessarily in that category, but I would expect those two guys to start and play 30 minutes a game. I'd be really surprised if it doesn't work itself out that way. You know, and so I just know they're going to be a really important part of the whole process from beginning to end. Brock's going to be important to the whole process, but that role is probably going to look a little bit different."
On if Jaylen Alexander is ahead of where you thought he would be…
"Yes. We knew he was a good player when we signed him at Belmont, and we felt like he was a Power conference guy, and he had plenty of interest and so forth. But we got a commitment from him early and signed him early, and then he goes on to be Gatorade Player of the Year. And so, we knew we were getting a really good player, and we brought him here because we felt like we knew he belonged at this level. But he's been exceptional, and more so in a sense that he's the one guy that we can count on, like defensively, to implement a drill into live play to get his assignment right. I mean, he's like way ahead of the game as far as his basketball maturity goes. Very confident. You know, he's got a really steady poise offensively. I felt like again going back to the scrimmage, I felt like he settled the whole team down when he was in the game, and just for a true freshman in his first college action, I felt like that was really impressive."
On where Isaiah Abraham has made the most progress…
"He missed the whole summer. He was here the whole summer but was battling a couple of different things and never did any live stuff. But since we've been back this fall, he's been full speed ahead and really made a big difference. I mean, he'll make a great contribution to the team. I'd be shocked if he's not one of those starting and playing 30 minutes a game. His ability to play both ends is helpful."
On Devin Hutcherson and his progress…
"Devin physically, athletically holds his own every day. The learning curve for him has been a little bit more difficult. Not anything that I'm that I have long-term worry about in any way, shape, or form. It's just more of a typical freshman scenario where it just takes guys a little bit longer to be comfortable, and sometimes that's a product of where they played or style of play. But he's progressing nicely. He's gonna be just fine."
On his depth at point guard being key to what he wants to do offensively…
"Well, it's always nice to have depth at every position. But we value that one quite a bit. And I literally would feel comfortable with any of those three guys being in the game right now, and we'll just have to see how much they play together. You know what those combinations look like, and so forth. But they're all good players, and they'll all help us."
On if he is comfortable with playing two point guards…
"We will definitely play with two. I just don't know how much. it's TBD. They're different. (Brandon) Rechsteiner made eight threes in the scrimmage. He's got a little bit more of that mentality. I'd say Jaylen (Alexander) is a lot more of what people would consider a pure point guard. Montana (Wheeler) can really heat up the ball defensively and is really quick from A to B and can kind of create some problems that way. So, there is diversity within that group that is helpful to us. It gives us some flexibility."
On Andrej Kostic and his progress…
"He's one of those guys that's been battling some injury as well, he will be in the mix. I wouldn't say that he's solidly in there right now. We got to get him healthy, and then he's got to string together some good practices. A week or two or three of good performances to get where he wants to be and where we would want him to be. So short term, we have to be patient. Long term, there's still plenty, plenty out there for him."
On if he is happy that the season is less than a month away or happy to still have time…
"No, I think we're ready to go. I mean, we can always use the time. Coaches love practicing and getting better and trying to get closer to perfect. But at the same time, it's two weeks from today we play Nebraska, and then then in my mind, we're officially in season, so we don't have very much time left to go. Just even the Tulsa scrimmage was great. Kind of turn one page, the response to that. You turn to another page, and you got a home exhibition. Turn that page. A road exhibition. You turn that page, and then it's full speed ahead. Really, we're ready to go."
On being at a school with football but with basketball season kind of sneaking up at this point…
"I think it's a hardship, but that's not the right word, but you know basketball's not on many radars across the country right now. We are about midway mark of college football season, and I'm as big a college football fan as there is anywhere, so I understand that. But we've got a job to do, and the great thing about K-State fans is they're supportive of both, and you know when our when our time comes, they'll be here, and we our job is to give them a reason for more of them to come out to games."
How to follow the 'Cats: For complete information on K-State men's basketball, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X, Instagram and Facebook.
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