K-State, Nebraska Clash in the Battle at BigIron Monday

Monday, October 26

Grand Island, Neb.

6:30 p.m. CT

Kansas State University

Nebraska

K-State Men's Basketball vs Missouri (Exh.), Friday, October 23, 2026, Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, Kansas, Final Score: K-State 67, Missouri 71

Oct 25, 2026 | Men's Basketball

Buy Tickets Watch on Big Ten Network Plus Listen Live Live Stats

This is the first time the schools have met for an exhibition

EXHIBITION
KANSAS STATE (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) vs. NEBRASKA (0-0, 0-0 Big Ten)
Monday, October 26, 2026 | 6:31 p.m. CT | BigIron Events Center (7,500) | Grand Island, Neb.
Battle at the BigIron presented by Pinnacle Bank

TICKETS (Buy Tickets Here)

Prices range from $28 to $137

TELEVISION
Nebraska Public Television / Big Ten Network Plus (online link)

Bill Doleman (play-by-play)
Nick Bahe (analyst)
Gavin Felix (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)
Stan Weber (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

Nebraska: Fred Hoiberg [Iowa State '95]
Record at Nebraska: 112-115/8th year
Career Record: 227-171/13th Year

EXHIBITION HISTORY
First meeting

SERIES HISTORY (Regular-season only)
Overall: K-State leads 128-95
In Manhattan: K-State leads 70-36
In Lincoln: Nebraska leads 55-39
Active Streak: Nebraska, 2
Last Meeting: Nebraska won 86-85 (11/21/25 in Kansas City)
Casey Alexander vs. Fred Hoiberg: 0-0

K-STATE, NEBRASKA CLASH IN THE BATTLE AT BIGIRON MONDAY
This is the first time the schools have met for an exhibition

MANHATTAN – The Kansas State men's basketball team plays its second and final exhibition on Monday night when the Wildcats travel to face former conference foe Nebraska in the Battle at the BigIron at the BigIron Events Center in Grand Island, Neb. The exhibition will tip at 6:31 p.m., CT and will be broadcast on Nebraska Public Television and Big Ten Network Plus (link).

FOR GREG
Monday's exhibition is being dubbed the Greg Sharpe Scholarship Game, who served as primary play-by-play voice for K-State and Nebraska before succumbing to cancer in 2025. Each school's 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. For more information or to donate to scholarship fund, please visit the Kansas State University Foundation here.

RECAPPING FRIDAY'S EXHIBITION WITH MISSOURI
View stats, quotes, highlight, press conference video and photo gallery here

K-State nearly fought back from a 14-point second half, closing the deficit to one possession several times in the final minute, before falling to a talented Missouri squad, 71-67, on Friday night before 6,800 fans at Bramlage Coliseum.
McDonald's All-American Jason Crowe Jr. led the Tigers with a game-high 21 points to go with 5 assists, while three Wildcats scored in double figures led by fifth year Jaden Schutt and sophomore Montana Wheeler. Senior Brandon Rechsteiner added 11 points to go with team-highs in both rebounds (8) and assists (5).
The Tigers scored the first 13 points of the second half to quickly erase a 5-point halftime deficit to the Wildcats. The lead ballooned to 14 points at 61-47 with 6:38 remaining after an 11-1 run that was capped by a 3-pointer freshman Toni Bryant. However, the new-look Wildcats wouldn't go away, slowly chipping away behind the play of Rechsteiner, Wheeler and junior Isaiah Abraham, who accounted for the team's last 20 points.
Rechsteiner answered the Bryant 3-pointer right before a K-State timeout with 6:04 to play. He added another 3-pointer following jumpers from Wheeler and Abraham that cut the lead to 63-57, forcing a Missouri timeout with 2:44 remaining. Following a pair of Crowe free throws, Rechsteiner had a layup to go with two free throws from Wheeler that made it 65-61. The teams traded free throws before a steal and layup by Abraham closed to one possession at 67-65 with 27 seconds.
Fifth year Dez Lindsay forced a bad pass by sophomore Bryson Tiller on the next possession, but Tiller recovered to block Abraham's layup with 17 seconds. Tiller grabbed the defensive board and fed it to senior Kennard Davis Jr., who converted on a layup on the other end to put the Tigers up 69-65 with 13 seconds. Abraham's dunk with 5 seconds pulled the Wildcats to within 69-67 but two free throws from Crowe with 2.3 seconds provided the final points.
Neither team shot 40 percent from the field, as K-State shot 39.3 percent (24-of-61) from the field, including 26.5 percent (9-of-34) from 3-point range, while making 10 of 11 free throws, while Missouri connected on just 35.4 percent (23-of-65), including 27.6 percent (8-of-29) from long range. Both teams had 28 points in the paint, while the Tigers held advantages in points off turnovers (17-16) and second-chance points (12-7).

SCOUTING K-STATE

Monday's exhibition will mark the second for 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 NEBRASKA

Nebraska enters the 2026-27 season with high hopes after winning a school-record 28 games and advancing to its first-ever Sweet 16 under head coach Fred Hoiberg last season. The Huskers posted a 28-7 overall record while finishing in a tie for second place in the Big Ten with a 15-5 mark.
Nebraska has already played two exhibitions, losing to Saint Louis, 79-74, at home on Oct. 9 before falling at BYU, 72-61 on Oct. 16.
The team returns seven lettermen, including two of their top three scorers in Pryce Sandfort and Braden Frager. They also welcome eight newcomers, including six Division I transfers and two highly-regarded freshmen to the mix.
Sandfort was one of the top scorers in the Big Ten a year ago, averaging 18.1 points per game, including a school-record 129 3-pointers, en route to earning First Team All-Big Ten honors. He was named to the preseason All-Big Ten team for 2026-27.
Senior transfer Sam Orme played for Alexander at Belmont, where he was an All-Missouri Valley Conference selection after averaging 12.8 points on 56 percent shooting, including 40 percent from 3-point range.
Hoiberg has a 227-171 college record as a head coach, including a 112-15 in his eighth season. He previously was the head coach at his alma mater Iowa State.

LAST MEETING:
NEBRASKA 86, K-STATE 85 (Nov. 21, 2025 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City)

Senior Sam Hoiberg knocked down the winning free throw with 0.6 seconds left to lift Nebraska to an 86-85 win over K-State in the championship game of the Hall of Fame Classic in the last meeting between the schools on Nov. 21, 2025 at the T-Mobile Center.
After Hoiberg intentionally missed the second free throw and senior Nate Johnson grabbed the rebound, the officials made a timing adjustment to give K-State (5-1) one last chance with 0.9 seconds, however, senior Khamari McGriff's pass was off the mark, as Nebraska (6-0) ran its winning streak to 10 games dating back to last season.
The backcourt tandem of juniors P.J. Haggerty (27 points) and Abdi Bashir Jr. (26 points) combined for 53 of the team's 85 points, including 33 in the second half when the Wildcats rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit. Johnson was also in double figures with 12 points.
K-State, which trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half, got a spark from Bashir out of halftime as he connected on three 3-pointers to ignite an 11-0 run that gave the Wildcats a 46-45 lead. From there, the teams went back and forth with neither holding more than a 5-point lead in a second half that included 12 lead changes and nine ties.
Haggerty gave K-State its largest lead at 72-67 on a layup with 7:21 to play before Nebraska answered back with 9 straight points to go ahead 76-72 with just 5 minutes remaining. However, four free throws by the Wildcats tied it at 76-all, including 3 in a row from Bashir.
Neither team led by more than 2 points in the last 4 minutes, as they seemingly matched each other shot for shot. Tied at 83-all with less than a minute to play, senior Rienk Mast gave the Huskers an 85-83 lead by converting on a layup with 35 seconds before Haggerty matched it 8 seconds later to knot it at 85-all.
Nebraska called a full timeout with 22 seconds to play to set up the final sequence, as junior Pryce Sandfort missed a 3-pointer, but Hoiberg grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled.
Redshirt freshman Braden Frager was named the tournament MVP after posting 16 points and 6 rebounds off the bench, while Sandfort and Mast posted 21 and 20 points, respectively. Hoiberg, who redeemed himself with the free throw make after missing a pair with the score tied at 78-all with 2:58 to play, finished with 13 points.

EXHIBITION HISTORY

K-State has a 76-23 all-time record in exhibition games, including a 59-10 record at home and 53-10 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 allowed exhibitions against other Division I schools.

NEXT UP
K-State officially opens the Casey Alexander era on Tuesday, November 3 when the Wildcats play host to South Dakota State at 7 p.m., CT at Bramlage Coliseum. The game will air on ESPN+.

A variety of ticket packages (link here) are available for the 2026-27 home schedule which includes 19 games at Bramlage Coliseum.