Kansas State announces nonconference basketball schedule for 2015-16 season

Kansas State basketball coach Bruce Weber often said the Wildcats played a nonconference schedule that was too difficult last season. But that shouldn’t be a problem next season with nine home games scheduled for the 2015-16 slate, announced Thursday.

K-State will start the season on Nov. 13 with consecutive home games against Maryland-Eastern Shore, Columbia and South Dakota before heading to Kansas City’s Sprint Center to play some combination of Missouri, Northwestern and North Carolina in the CBE Classic. Afterward, the Wildcats will face South Carolina State, Coppin State, North Dakota, Saint Louis and Mississippi at home. They will play Texas A&M and Georgia on the road, and they will take on Colorado State at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita.

“We felt with so many new players that we needed to get some home games under our belt early to develop some confidence in our team,” Weber said in a statement. “Obviously, we have a nice challenge with the games in Kansas City at the CBE Hall of Fame Classic against a longtime rival in Missouri, a Big Ten team in Northwestern and a national championship contender in North Carolina.

“We then have a couple of road games to give us some experience in Georgia, who beat us at home last year, and Texas A&M, who has had two of the best recruiting classes in the country the past two seasons.”

Here is the complete schedule:

Nov. 6, Fort Hays State (exhibition)

Nov. 13, Md.-Eastern Shore

Nov. 16, Columbia

Nov. 20, South Dakota

Nov. 23, TBA (CBE Classic at Kansas City)

Nov. 24, TBA (CBE Classic at Kansas City)

Nov. 29, South Carolina State

Dec. 4, at Georgia

Dec. 9, Coppin State

Dec. 12, at Texas A&M

Dec. 19, Colorado State (at Intrust Bank Arena)

Dec. 22, North Dakota

Dec. 29, Saint Louis

Jan. 30, Mississippi

This story was originally published June 11, 2015 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Kansas State announces nonconference basketball schedule for 2015-16 season."