K-State Hosts Missouri in Lone Home Exhibition Friday - Kansas State University Athletics

Friday, October 23

Manhattan, Kan.

7 p.m. CT

Kansas State University

Missouri

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Oct 23, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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The Wildcats and Tigers will play for the second straight year in exhibition.

MANHATTAN – The Kansas State men's basketball team plays the first of two exhibition games on Friday night when the Wildcats welcome former conference rival Missouri at Bramlage Coliseum. This will mark the second straight season the schools have met in exhibition play with the Tigers, posting a 100-91 victory at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo., on Oct. 24, 2026.

EXHIBITION
KANSAS STATE (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) vs. MISSOURI (0-0, 0-0 SEC)
Friday, October 23, 2026 | 7:01 p.m. CT | Bramlage Coliseum (11,010) | Manhattan, Kan.

TICKETS (Men's Basketball Ticket Hub)

GA tickets priced starting at $14 (seating in Section 22-25, first-come, first-served)
Wildcat 4-Packs (4 bench level tickets + 4 $10 concession vouchers)

TELEVISION
ESPN+ (online link)

Ben Boyle (play-by-play)
Stan Weber (analyst)
Laci Lister (reporter)
Alex Karbach (producer)

RADIO
K-State Sports Network
Flagships: // KMAN 1350 & WIBW 580
Satellite Radio: none
Online: Varsity Network [free] / kstatesports.com/watch [free]

Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play)
Bob Chipman (analyst)

LIVE STATS
kstate.statbroadcast.com

COACHES
K-State: Casey Alexander [Belmont '95]
Record at K-State: 0-0/1st Year
Career Record: 303-180/16th Year

Missouri: Dennis Gates [California '02]
Record at Missouri: 75-59/6th year
Career Record: 125-99/9th Year

EXHIBITION HISTORY
Overall: Missouri leads 1-0
In Manhattan: First meeting
At T-Mobile Center: First meeting
Active Streak: Missouri, 1
Last Meeting: Missouri won 100-91 (10/24/26)
Casey Alexander vs. Dennis Gates: 0-0

SCOUTING K-STATE

Friday's exhibition will mark the debut of head coach Casey Alexander, who was hired as the school's 27th head men's basketball coach on March 13. Alexander has 303 games in 15 seasons as a head coach at Stetson, Lipscomb and Belmont.
Alexander, who led Belmont to 166 wins and four conference titles in the last seven seasons (2019-26), guided the Bruins to a 26-6 record and their first-ever Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title in 2025-26.
Alexander has led teams to 10 consecutive 20-win season (238-91; . 723 winning percentage), which includes double-digit conference win totals each season despite navigating three different conferences (Atlantic Sun, Ohio Valley and MVC). He is one of four coaches to win 20 or more games in 10 consecutive seasons, joining Gonzaga's Mark Few, Houston's Kelvin Sampson and Kansas' Bill Self.
Belmont is one of 16 Division I programs with 165 or more victories since the start of the 2019-20 season, which includes the likes of Houston, Gonzaga, Duke and Kansas. The Bruins are one of only four teams outside the traditional multi-bid leagues (Akron, Drake, Liberty and VCU) in the fraternity.
The Wildcats return just one lettermen – rising sophomore Andrej Kostic – from last season, as they welcome 13 newcomers, including 10 Division I transfers and three true freshmen.
Among those prominent Division I transfers are captains Brandon Rechsteiner (Colorado State), Jaden Schutt (Virginia Tech) and Brock Vice (Murray State) as well as Isaiah Abraham (Georgetown), Dez Lindsay (Oregon), Pape N'Diaye (Xavier), JT Rock (New Mexico) and Montana Wheeler (Bradley).

SCOUTING MISSOURI

Missouri enters the 2026-27 season with high hopes after advancing to its third NCAA Tournament in four years under head coach Dennis Gates. The Tigers posted a 20-13 overall record, including a 10-8 mark in SEC play.
All-SEC performer Mark Mitchell is the team's lone returning starter from last season. He became the second player in school history to lead the Tigers in scoring (18.3 ppg.), rebounding (5.2 rpg.) and assists (3.6 apg.) in 2025-26.
In addition to Mitchell, the Tigers added several prominent Division I transfers in Bryson Tiller (Kansas), Jaylen Carey (Tennessee), CJ Gunn (DePaul) and Jordan Crawford (South Dakota) to go along with a nationally-regarded high school recruiting class, which includes freshman phenom Jason Crowe Jr.

LAST MEETING: MISSOURI 100, K-STATE 91

PJ Haggerty paced all scorers with a game-high 23 points and 6 assists while Nate Johnson added 14 points, as K-State opened exhibition play with a 100-91 loss to Missouri at Mizzou Arena on Oct. 24, 2025.
Haggerty scored his 23 points on 8-of-14 field goals, including 2-of-4 from 3-point range, and 5-of-7 free throws to go with his game-high 6 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals in 25 minutes. Johnson made 5-of-11 shots, including 2-of-5 from long range, to go with a team-high 6 rebounds.
Four Tigers scored in double figures, including 16 points from Anthony Robinson II and Jayden Stone, as the home team connected on 54.8 percent (34-of-62) from the field with 54 points in the paint and 29 fast-break points.
The Wildcats shot nearly 50 percent from the field (49.3 percent; 33-of-67), while getting 44 points in the paint and 35 points from their bench, as then head coach Jerome Tang used a platoon-type system for much of the first half. Nine other players scored at least 5 points, including 7 points from Elias Rapieque and Andrej Kostic.

EXHIBITION HISTORY

K-State has a 76-22 all-time record in exhibition games, including a 59-9 record at home and 53-9 at Bramlage Coliseum.
K-State has been playing exhibition games since the 1963-64 season when the Wildcats defeated the Peruvian National Team at Ahearn Field House. The school played exhibition games off and on, including its first international tour in 1981, before the NCAA regulated the practice by allowing Division I institutions the ability to schedule two exhibition games per season prior to 1987-88. Schools can now schedule up to three exhibition/closed scrimmages per season.
K-State has primarily played the Kansas members of the MIAA (Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association) since switching to Division II teams in exhibition play in 2004. Prior to that change, the Wildcats played traveling teams of former Division I players like Athletes First, EA Sports All-Stars and Global Sports in exhibition play from 1987 to 2005.
In 2025, the NCAA has allowed exhibitions against other Division I schools.

NEXT UP
K-State plays its second and final exhibition on Monday when the Wildcats travel to Grand Island, Neb., to take on Nebraska at 6:30 p.m., CT at the Heartland Events Center. It will be broadcast on Nebraska Public Television and Big Ten Network Plus (link).

The game is being dubbed the Greg Sharpe Scholarship Game. The two schools' communications departments are collaborating on a student-led radio broadcast with a representative from each school to raise money for the Greg Sharpe Sports Broadcasting Scholarship Fund. Sharpe served as the play-by-play voice for both schools before succumbing to cancer in 2025.