K-State Wildcats vs. KU Jayhawks: Sunflower Showdown lineups, time, TV and prediction

The details

When/where: 6 p.m. Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence

TV/radio: ESPN2; KFH (97.5 FM) and KKGQ (92.3 FM) in Wichita, KCSP (610 AM) and WHB (810) in Kansas City.

Projected lineups

About Kansas State (8-9, 1-4 Big 12): The Wildcats are hoping to build off their first Big 12 victory of the season. K-State is coming off an 84-68 victory over West Virginia in which Bruce Weber experimented with a new starting lineup. It is unclear if he will stick with the same starting five against Kansas on Tuesday. Some of that might depend on the health of junior guard Mike McGuirl, who has been out the past two games while recovering from a concussion. David Sloan saw his first start and played 36 minutes against the Mountaineers, so he will probably continue to get the starting nod if McGuirl is out or limited. Cartier Diarra saw even more playing time in K-State’s game. It will be interesting to see how Weber manages his work load against the Jayhawks. K-State could go big to match KU or go small to try and create some mismatches.

About Kansas (14-3, 4-1 Big 12): The Jayhawks return home to Allen Fieldhouse after winning a pair of road games last week against Oklahoma and Texas. Kansas lost its last home game against Baylor, but owns a 6-1 record in Lawrence this season. The Jayhawks haven’t been scoring at their usual pace recently, as they have failed to surpass 66 points in any game since blasting Iowa State 79-53 two weeks ago. Part of their problem appears to be from the three-point line, where they made just two shots on 10 attempts against the Longhorns over the weekend. But the Jayhawks are playing at a high level on defense. They have not allowed a team to score 70 points against them in 10 straight games.

Kellis Robinett’s prediction: The Jayhawks are rightfully big favorites in this game. They have more size, experience and depth than the Wildcats. They will also be playing at home, where they haven’t lost a Sunflower Showdown since 2006 when Jim Wooldridge shockingly guided K-State to a 59-55 victory in his final season as coach.

Still, it’s hard to see KU winning by a huge margin. Offense has not come easily lately for the Jayhawks this season, and that is unlikely to change against a team that plays hard and brings it on defense like the Wildcats.

Expect K-State to play with some confidence after upsetting West Virginia over the weekend and make things interesting against KU before the Jayhawks seize control in the final 10 minutes.

Kansas 69, K-State 59.

Jesse Newell’s prediction: KU should have one major concern heading into this one: turnovers.

The Jayhawks have had various levels of giveaway issues in each of their losses, and K-State certainly should challenge them in that regard with perimeter players who have done a great job of pressuring out defensively.

Outside of that aspect, though, there are a lot of reasons to like KU in a blowout here.

The Wildcats have turnover problems of their own, and though KU has struggled getting after teams lately, defensive energy is something that typically can be helped by an amped-up Fieldhouse crowd.

This one probably won’t be pretty to watch when both teams aren’t in transition. KU has much more shooting potential, though, and if it can heat up K-State’s guards, there could be some easy points available too.

Kansas 75, K-State 56.

This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 5:00 AM.

Kellis Robinett

The Wichita Eagle

Kellis Robinett covers Kansas State athletics for The Wichita Eagle and The Kansas City Star. A winner of more than a dozen national writing awards, he lives in Manhattan with his wife and four children.