K-State Wildcats vs. WVU Mountaineers: Basketball lineups, TV, time, score prediction
The details
When/where: 1 p.m. Saturday at WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, West Virginia
TV/radio: ESPN+ (online streaming service, subscription required); KKGQ (92.3 FM) in Wichita, KCSP (610 AM) in Kansas City.
About West Virginia (11-2, 0-1 Big 12): The Mountaineers are expected to be close to full strength for this game, as Bob Huggins said he is expecting Taz Sherman, Gabe Osabouhien and Kobe Johnson to return to the rotation. They might only play limited minutes and come off the bench, but they will at least provide quality depth. West Virginia missed them in its last game against Texas. West Virginia is off to an 11-2 start this season with wins over Clemson, Connecticut and UAB. Its two losses came against Marquette and Texas.
About Kansas State (8-5, 0-2 Big 12): The Wildcats have dropped each of their first two Big 12 games while dealing with COVID issues within their roster. They will once again be short-handed against West Virginia. Centers Kaosi Ezeagu and Logan Landers are both expected to miss this game, leaving K-State with just nine healthy players. Bruce Weber, Chris Lowery and Shane Southwell will also stay home, leaving Jermaine Henderson to coach the team all by himself. Markquis Nowell should be back for the first time since Dec. 21, though. That’s good news for the Wildcats. Davion Bradford also surprisingly made the trip after Weber said he would remain sidelined.
Projected lineups
P | No. | Kansas State | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 12 | Carlton Linguard | 7-0 | Jr. | 2.0 |
F | 25 | Ismael Massoud | 6-9 | So. | 8.2 |
G | 3 | Mark Smith | 6-4 | Sr. | 10.3 |
G | 24 | Nijel Pack | 6-0 | So. | 15.6 |
G | 1 | Markquis Nowell | 5-8 | Jr. | 12.8 |
P | No. | West Virginia | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 13 | Isaiah Cottrell | 6-10 | Fr. | 4.6 |
F | 11 | Jalen Bridges | 6-7 | So. | 8.1 |
F | 1 | Pauly Paulicap | 6-8 | Sr. | 3.5 |
G | 22 | Sean McNeil | 6-3 | Sr. | 13.8 |
G | 1 | Kedrian Johnson | 6-3 | Sr. | 4.6 |
Prediction
It’s hard to see the Wildcats keeping this one close.
K-State always seems to struggle inside WVU Coliseum, even when its roster is at full strength. West Virginia has won seven of its past eight games at home in this series with most of them coming by large margins.
The Wildcats will struggle to buck that trend with only nine healthy players and one coach on Saturday.
Under normal circumstances, this would be a fairly even game. Both teams play excellent defense and go through scoring slumps on offense. But the Mountainers force lots of turnovers, and that could be a problem for the Wildcats. If Huggins speeds up the game and uses his full-court press, West Virginia could win on depth alone.
West Virginia 72, K-State 58.
This story was originally published January 8, 2022 at 5:00 AM.