Preview // K-State Plays BYU at Big 12 Tournament Tuesday

Tuesday, March 10

Kansas City

6 p.m. CT

Kansas State University

BYU

Preview // K-State Plays BYU at Big 12 Tournament Tuesday

Mar 09, 2026 | Men's Basketball

K-State Notes (.pdf)BYU Notes (.pdf)Tournament Bracket Watch [ESPN3]Listen Live [K-State Sports Network]Live Stats Program

The Wildcats and Cougars will meet for the first time at the tournament.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State (12-19, 3-15 Big 12) makes the short trek to Kansas City to participate in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament, where the 15-seed Wildcats will play 10-seed BYU (21-10, 9-9 Big 12) in the first round on Tuesday at the T-Mobile Center. Tip is set for 6:01 p.m., CT and will air on ESPN+ with Jon Sciambi, Fran Fraschilla and Angel Gray on the call. The winner will play 7-seed West Virginia.

K-State has a 39-46 all-time record in the Big Eight/12 Tournament dating back to 1977, including 19-28 in the Big 12 era (since 1997). The Wildcats are 21-15 in the first round, including 9-7 at the Big 12 Tournament. This is the first time as No. 15 seed, while the Wildcats are 2-0 all-time vs. the No. 10 seed, having defeated No. 10 seed Texas A&M in 1999 and No. 10 Baylor in 2002.

The matchup with BYU will be the fourth consecutive repeat opponents, as the schools met all the way back in the conference opener on Jan. 3 with the Cougars posting an 83-73 win. K-State made just 3 of 21 attempts (14.3 percent) from 3-point range but did give itself a fighting chance with 48 points in the paint and 17 points off turnovers. Junior P.J. Haggerty tied BYU's AJ Dybantsa with a game-high 24 points, while Haggerty added 7 rebounds, 6 assists and a season-high 4 steals.

This will be the first meeting between K-State and BYU at the Big 12 Tournament. The Cougars have won 4 of the last 6 matchups, but the Wildcats have won both games in the postseason with victories at the 1951 and 2010 NCAA Tournaments.

BYU snapped a 3-game losing streak with an 82-76 win over No. 10/10 Texas Tech on Saturday night in Provo to finish the regular season at 21-10 overall and 9-9 in Big 12 play. The Cougars are 3-5 since losing senior Richie Saunders to a season-ending injury on Feb. 14. However, they have one of the top scoring duos in the country in Big 12 Freshman of the Year AJ Dybantsa (24.7 ppg.) and All-Big 12 Third Team selection Robert Wright III (18.6 ppg.).

K-State made a coaching change on Feb. 15, parting ways with fourth-year coach Jerome Tang, who compiled a 71-57 record. Associate head coach Matthew Driscoll was named the interim head coach for the reminder of the season. Driscoll, who is in his first season at K-State, has extensive head coaching experience with 276 wins in 20 seasons as a head coach (LaRoche College and North Florida), including a school-record 248 in 16 years (2009-25) with Ospreys.

In snapping K-State's 6-game skid in the 90-74 win over Baylor on Feb. 17, Driscoll became just the second interim head coach in school history to win his debut and the first in nearly 20 years when Jimmy Elgas led the Wildcats to a 66-63 win over Iowa State on Feb. 8, 2006. His two wins are the second-most by an interim coach, as Darryl Winston went 5-10 in a similar role in 1984-85.

GAME 32
KANSAS STATE (12-19, 3-15 Big 12) vs. rv/rv BYU (21-10, 9-9 Big 12)
Tuesday, March 10, 2026 | 6:01 p.m. CT | T-Mobile Center (18,689) | Kansas City, Mo.
Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament

TELEVISION
ESPN+ (online link)

Jon Sciambi (play-by-play)
Fran Fraschilla (analyst)
Angel Gray (reporter)
Joe McCoy (producer)

RADIO
K-State Sports Network
Flagships: // KMAN 1350 & WIBW 580
Satellite Radio: Ch. 138/198
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: Matthew Driscoll [Slippery Rock '92]
Record at K-State: 2-4/1st Year
Career Record: 276-345/21st Year
vs. BYU: 0-0 (0-0 neutral site)

BYU: Kevin Young [Clayton State '04]
Record at BYU: 47-20/2nd year
Career Record: 47-20/2nd Year
vs. K-State: 2-0 (0-0 neutral site)

LAST GAME STARTERS:
K-State (12-19, 3-15 Big 12)
G: #4 P.J. Haggerty
G: #34 Nate Johnson
G: #10 David Castillo
W: #15 Taj Manning
W: #21 Khamari McGriff

BYU (21-10, 9-9 Big 12)
G: #1 Robert Wright III
G: #3 AJ Dybantsa
G: #30 Kennard Davis Jr.
F: #5 Mihailo Boskovic
F: #13 Keba Keita

BIG 12 TOURNAMENT HISTORY

Overall: 39-46 [21-15 in First Round]
Big 12 era: 19-28 [9-7 in First Round]
In Kansas City: 31-39 [12-16 at T-Mobile Center]
vs. BYU : First meeting
As a 15-seed: 0-0
vs. 10-seed: 2-0/2002 [last]

SERIES HISTORY

Overall: BYU leads 6-5
Big 12 era: BYU leads 3-1 (0-0 in postseason)
In Kansas City: K-State leads 1-0
At T-Mobile Center: First meeting
Active Streak: BYU, 2
Last Meeting: BYU won 83-73 (1/3/26)
Matthew Driscoll vs. Kevin Young: 0-0

INJURIES TAKE TOLL

Injuries have played a major role in K-State's fortunes this season, as 7 players have lost time due to injury, totaling 57 games missed entering Tuesday's game vs. BYU.
The Wildcats have played just one Big 12 game (at Arizona on Jan. 7) with their full allotment of players. They have played 7 Big 12 games with 4 players out due to injury (all in a row from Jan. 20-Feb. 14), while they have played 12 Big 12 games with 3 or more players out and 15 Big 12 games with 2 or more players out.

DRISCOLL NAMED INTERIM HEAD COACH

Veteran head coach Matthew Driscoll was named interim head coach on Sunday night after the university parted ways with fourth-year head coach Jerome Tang. This is the first time K-State has relieved a sitting head coach with games still left in the regular season.
The winningest coach in both North Florida and Atlantic Sun Conference history during a 16-year stint (2009-25) with the Ospreys, Driscoll joined the staff on May 23. He won 248 games at North Florida, including 144 in ASUN play, while guiding the school to 3 regular-season championships and the league's tournament championship and a NCAA Tournament bid in 2015.
This is the fifth instance in school history where an interim head coach has been used to replace a sitting head coach. However, the previous four such scenarios involved health situations.
Assistant coach Darryl Winston served as interim head coach for the last 15 games of the 1984-85 season after Jack Hartman suffered a heart attack. Winston posted a 5-10 record and Hartman returned for the 1985-86 season.
Assistant coach Jimmy Elgas served as interim head coach for 2 games during the 2005-06 season after Jim Wooldridge underwent neck surgery, posting a 1-1 record. Wooldridge returned to coach the last 7 games.
Most recently, Bruce Weber missed 2 games during the 2021-22 season due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols with assistant coach Shane Southwell serving as interim head coach vs. Texas on Jan. 4, 2022 while assistant coach Jermaine Henderson served as interim coach at West Virginia on Jan. 8, 2022.

HAGGERTY ECLIPSES 2,000 CAREER POINTS

Junior P.J. Haggerty reached a person milestone at No. 3/3 Houston (2/14/26) last Saturday, as he became the fifth current Division I player to eclipse 2,000 career points, joining Gonzaga's Graham Ike, Indiana's Tucker DeVries, Oklahoma's Nijel Pack and SMU's Jaron Pierre Jr. The No. 4 scorer nationally at 23.5 points per game, who also ranks first in field goals made (246), second in points (659), field goals attempted (502), posted his 21st game of 20 or more points vs. Colorado (2/25/28), which is the most by a Wildcat in a single season since Michael Beasley had 26 in 2007-08.