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Nov 27, 2020

K-State Meets Former Conference Foe Colorado in Little Apple Finale Friday

Posted Nov 27, 2020 1:07 PM

KANSAS STATE (0-1) vs. COLORADO (1-0)
Friday, November 27, 2020 >> 7:35 p.m. CT >> Bramlage Coliseum (12,528) >> Manhattan, Kan.
Little Apple Classic

TELEVISION
ESPNU

  1. Chuckie Kempf (play-by-play)
  2. Tim Welsh (analyst)
  3. Steve Kurtenbach (producer)


RADIO
K-State Sports Network
Flagships: // KMAN 1350 & WIBW 580, KHMY My93.1 Hutchinson
Online: TuneIn.com [free] / www.kstatesports.com/watch [free]
XM 375 [Internet 375]

  1. Brian Smoller (play-by-play)
  2. Missy Heidrick (analyst)


LIVE STATS
www.kstatesports.com
kstate.statbroadcast.com [media only]

COACHES
Kansas State: Bruce Weber (Wis.-Milwaukee '78)
Overall: 474-266/23rd season
At K-State: 161-111/9th season
vs. Colorado: 1-0

Colorado: Tad Boyle (Kansas '84)
Overall: 267-200/15th season
At Colorado: 211-134/11th season
vs. Kansas State: 3-0

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP
Kansas State (0-1)
G: #00 Mike McGuirl
G: #3 DaJuan Gordon
G: #24 Nijel Pack
F: #23 Montavious Murphy
F: #1 Kaosi Ezeagu

Colorado (1-0)
G: #25 McKinley Wright IV
G: #24 Eli Parquet
G/F: #3 Maddox Daniels
F: #21 Evan Battey
F/C: #13 Dallas Walton

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: K-State leads 96-47
Current Streak: Colorado, 3
In Manhattan: K-State leads 54-10
At Bramlage Coliseum: K-State leads 15-8
Last Meeting: L, 75-87 [3/10/11 in Kansas City]
Weber vs. Boyle: First meeting

OPENING TIP

  1. Kansas State (0-1) will renew its rivalry with former conference foe Colorado (1-0) on Friday night, as the Wildcats and Buffaloes conclude play in the Little Apple Classic at 7:30 p.m., CT on ESPNU. It will be the first meeting in nearly 10 years since Colorado knocked off K-State, 87-75, in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship on March 10, 2011. The teams have played 143 times since their first meeting in 1933 and met at least once a year for 63 consecutive seasons (1948-2011).
  2. K-State leads the series with Colorado, 96-47, including 54-10 in games played at home. However, the Buffaloes have seen some success when playing at Bramlage Coliseum, where they have claimed 8 of their 10 all-time wins in Manhattan. Colorado has won 3 in a row in the series, as head coach Tad Boyle swept K-State in his first season in the Buffaloes' final season in the Big 12 in 2010-11.
  3. Despite a career-high 22 points from senior Mike McGuirl, K-State dropped its season opener for the first time since 2013 in an 80-70 loss to Drake on Wednesday. The Bulldogs rallied from an early 7-point second-half deficit then used a 7-1 run with just under 4 minutes to play to take control of the game and snap the Wildcats' 6-game winning streak in season openers. McGuirl and sophomore DaJuan Gordon combined for 37 of the Wildcats' 70 points, as McGuirl collected his first career 20-point game with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-15 field goals, including 3 triples, to go with 6 rebounds, while Gordon tied his career-high with 15 points.
  4. The loss was just the Wildcats' third in a season opener in Bramlage Coliseum, following setbacks to Southern Miss (74-60 on Nov. 27, 1993) and Northern Colorado (60-58 on Nov. 8, 2013). K-State is now 91-26 (.778) all-time in season openers dating back to its first season in 1903, including 27-3 (.900) at Bramlage Coliseum. The team will look to avoid going 0-2 to start a season at home for the first time since 1962-63 and the first time overall since 2002-03.
  5. Colorado looked impressive in earning an 84-61 win over South Dakota in the night cap of the tournament's first day on Wednesday, as eight players scored at least 7 points led by senior point guard McKinley Wright IV's 20 points. The Buffaloes were efficient on offense with 20 assists on 30 made field goals, while knocking down 10 3-pointers and making 14-of-15 attempts from the free throw line. 
  6. The Little Apple Classic is the 86th in-season tournament in school history dating  to the 1935 Kansas City Tournament. Overall, the Wildcats have a 176-109 (.620) record in tournament play with 16 titles, most recently at the 2018 Paradise Jam.
  7. K-State is technically hosting an in-season tournament at Bramlage Coliseum for the first time in the arena's 32-year history. The Wildcats defeated Lamar (79-55) and Alabama-Huntsville (87-26) in the Midwest Regional of the 2012 NIT Season Tip-Off in Bruce Weber's first season on Nov. 12-13 before advancing to the championship round of the tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York, losing to No. 3 Michigan in the finals.
  8. Despite the Drake loss, the Wildcats have still won 98 of their last 105 non-conference homes games. K-State is 111-9 (.925) at home venues in non-conference play since the 2006-07 season, including a 102-7 (.936) mark at Bramlage Coliseum.


NOTES ON COLORADO

  1. Colorado returns nine lettermen, including three starters (Evan Battey, D'Shawn Schwartz and McKinley Wright IV), from a squad that posted a 21-11 overall record and finished in tie for fifth place in the Pac-12 standings with a 10-8 mark. The Buffaloes ended the 2019-20 on a 5-game losing streak, which included an 82-68 loss to Washington State in the Pac-12 Tournament before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  2. Colorado was picked seventh in the preseason Pac-12 poll with 149 points, just behind sixth-place USC and right ahead of eighth-place Utah.
  3. The Buffaloes averaged 70.9 points per game on 43.7 percent shooting, including 35.1 percent from 3-point range, with 37.0 rebounds, 13.2 assists, 5.7 steals and  3.0 blocks per game in 2019-20, while allowing opponents to average 64.3 points on 41.4 percent shooting, including 34.2 percent from long range. The team connected on 73.6 percent from the free throw line.
  4. Colorado is led by one of the nation's top point guards in Wright, who was a Top 10 finalist for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award and a All-Pac-12 First Team selection in 2019-20. He led the Buffaloes in both scoring (14.4 ppg.) and assists (5.0 apg.) while averaging 5.7 rebounds and paced the Pac-12 in assists during league play at 5.7 per game. Overall, he hit on 44.8 percent from the field, including 33.6 percent from 3-point range.  
  5. In addition to Wright, the Buffaloes return a pair of starters in Schwartz and Battey, who averaged 9.8 and 8.9 points per game. Schwartz led the team in 3-pointer field goals made and attempted, while he was third in scoring, assists and steals. Battey paced the squad in offensive rebounds and ranked second in field goal percentage and total rebounding.
  6. Head coach Tad Boyle enters his 11th season in Boulder with a 211-134 (.610) overall record, which includes seven 20-win seasons and eight postseason appearances (4 NCAA trips). Overall, he is 267-200 in his 15th season as a head coach, which includes a 4-year stint at Northern Colorado (2006-10), where he built the program from 4 wins in 2006-07 to 25 in 2009-10.


SERIES HISTORY

  1. K-State and Colorado will meet for the 144th time on Friday night in a series that dates to 1933. The Wildcats own a 96-47 mark in those previous 143 meetings, including a 54-10 mark in games played in Manhattan. 
  2. The 143 meetings are the sixth-most against one opponent, following Kansas (293), Missouri (247), Iowa State (231), Nebraska (219) and Oklahoma (211), while the 96 wins are the fourth-most against one foe.
  3. Colorado has won the last 3 games in the series, sweeping K-State in its last season in the Big 12 in 2010-11 in head coach Tad Boyle's first season. Among those 3 wins was a 74-66 victory at Bramlage Coliseum on Jan. 12, 2011. Of the 10 victories by the Buffaloes in Manhattan, 8 have come at the arena where they are 8-15 all-time since its opening in 1988-89
  4. Head coach Bruce Weber is 1-0 in his career vs. Colorado, knocking off the Buffaloes, 94-92, in the first round of the 2000 NIT in Boulder on March 16 in his second season as the head coach at Southern Illinois.
  5. K-State is 140-78 all-time against teams from the Pac-12, including a 75-14 mark in games played at home. Colorado will be the first Pac-12 opponent the Wildcats have faced since defeating Washington State, 68-65, in Spokane on Dec. 20, 2017. Earlier that same season, K-State lost to Arizona State, 92-90, in the Las Vegas Invitational on Nov. 23, 2017.


POSTGAME NOTES vs. DRAKE

  1. K-State is now 91-26 (.783) all-time in season openers dating to the first season in 1903... The Wildcats have a 79-10 (.897) record in season openers played at home, including 27-3 (.926) at Bramlage Coliseum.
  2. K-State is now 20-7 all-time against Drake, including 10-3 at home... It was the first meeting between the schools since 1956... The Wildcats are 45-19 against the Missouri Valley with 3 consecutive losses.
  3. Head coach Bruce Weber is now 20-3 (.904) in season openers in his 23-year head coaching career (Southern Illinois, Illinois and K-State), which includes a 20-2 (.950) mark in home openers. His two previous losses came at Murray State, 65-62, on Nov. 14, 1998 while at SIU and at home to Northern Colorado in 2013 at K-State. He is 7-2 (.875) in season openers at K-State.
  4. The Wildcats' starting lineup included senior Mike McGuirl, sophomore DaJuan Gordon, freshman Nijel Pack, sophomore Montavious Murphy and sophomore Kaosi Ezeagu... It was the first career start for Ezeagu and Pack, who became the 16th true freshman to start a season opener since freshmen became eligible in 1971-72, including the fifth under head coach Bruce Weber, following Marcus Foster (2014), Kamau Stokes (2015), Dean Wade (2015) and teammate Montavious Murphy (2019).
  5. The Wildcats scored 70 points on 44.6 percent (25-of-56) shooting, including 36.4 percent (8-of-22) from 3-point range, and connected on 60 percent (12-of-20) from the free throw line... The team did win the battle of the boards, 36-32, including 15 offensive rebounds that resulted in 23 second-chance points, which would have a season-high in 2019-20.
  6. K-State allowed an opponent to score 80 or more points for just the 33rd time in Weber's tenure (out of 272 games) at K-State... The Bulldogs hit on 48.3 percent of its field goals, got big production from its bench (37 points) and took advantage of 14 Wildcats turnovers to post 19 points off turnovers.


NON-CONFERENCE HISTORY

  1. K-State has a 111-9 (.932) record at home venues (includes home games played at Bramlage Coliseum, INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita and the Sprint Center in Kansas City) in non-conference play dating back to the 2006-07 season, including a 102-7 (.944) mark at Bramlage Coliseum.
  2. Despite seeing their 33-game winning streak end at Bramlage Coliseum with a loss to Marquette on Dec. 7, 2019, the Wildcats have still won 98 of their last 105 non-conference home games.
  3. K-State has posted a 147-43 (.781) record in non-conference play since the 2006-07 season. Prior to last season, the team had posted double-digit non-conference wins in 12 of the last 13 seasons.


UP NEXT: VS. KANSAS CITY (1-0)

  1. K-State will continue its homestand on Monday night, as the Wildcats welcome Kansas City at 7 p.m., CT in a game that will be broadcast on ESPNU. It will mark the 'Roos' first visit to Bramlage Coliseum since 2017. K-State is 18-1 all-time against Kansas City, including 12-0 at home.
  2. Kansas City opened the season with a 105-35 victory over Culver-Stockton on Wednesday night at home. The Roos connected on 67.7 percent from the field and saw four players score in double figures.
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