Kansas State-Vanderbilt basketball lineups, tipoff time, TV info and a prediction
.JPG "Kansas State guard Barry Brown Jr. (5) and Southern Mississippi guard Tyree Griffin (55) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Manhattan, Kan., Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)")
Here are projected starters with TV and radio information for the Kansas State Wildcats vs. the Vanderbilt Commodores basketball game on Saturday at Sprint Center.
When/where: 6 p.m., Saturday, Sprint Center
TV/radio: ESPN2, KQAM (1480 AM) in Wichita, KCSP (610 AM) in Kansas City
Projected lineups:
P | No. | Vanderbilt | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 13 | Matthew Moyer | 6-8 | So. | 5.1 |
F | 32 | Matt Ryan | 6-8 | Jr. | 10.0 |
F | 11 | Simisola Shittu | 6-10 | Fr. | 15.1 |
G | 2 | Joe Toye | 6-7 | Sr. | 10.2 |
G | 0 | Saben Lee | 6-2 | So. | 12.0 |
P | No. | Kansas State | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 14 | Makol Mawien | 6-9 | Jr. | 6.7 |
G | 2 | Cartier Diarra | 6-4 | So. | 5.7 |
G | 20 | Xavier Sneed | 6-5 | Jr. | 12.3 |
G | 5 | Barry Brown | 6-3 | Sr. | 14.2 |
G | 3 | Kamau Stokes | 6-0 | Sr. | 9.2 |
About Vanderbilt (7-2): The Commodores are coming off their best win of the season, an 81-65 home victory over Arizona State. They also sport a win over Southern California. Vanderbilt has improved significantly from last year, because of a strong recruiting class that featured five-star freshmen Simisola Shittu and Darius Garland. It also added grad transfer Matthew Moyer at forward, a player K-State tried to add this offseason.
About Kansas State (8-2): The Wildcats are in an offensive slump without star forward Dean Wade in the lineup. They looked dead in the water in their last game until Kamau Stokes caught fire and led them to a come-from-behind victory 55-51. They haven’t eclipsed 71 points in their past five games. Perhaps a bigger lineup could help against an opponent like Vanderbilt. K-State beat the Commodores in Nashville last season 84-79.
Prediction: The Wildcats tend to play well in holiday games at Sprint Center, and they will need to do so again to beat Vanderbilt. The Commodores are playing well right now. The environment could help K-State snap out of its recent shooting funk. It’s a toss-up game, but the semi-home setting favors Bruce Weber’s team. K-State 65, Vanderbilt 63
This story was originally published December 21, 2018 at 12:30 PM.