Kansas State Wildcats vs. Baylor Bears: Lineups, TV, game time, score prediction
The details
When/where: 7 p.m. Wednesday at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.
TV/radio: ESPN+ (online streaming channel, subscription required); KKGQ (92.3 FM) in Wichita, KCSP (610 AM) in Kansas City.
About Baylor (19-4, 7-3, 7-3 Big 12): The Bears are coming off an ugly 83-59 road loss against Kansas. Scott Drew’s team hasn’t looked like a Final Four contender since it defeated K-State late last month 74-49 at home. The Bears followed that up with a road loss at Alabama, a narrow home victory over West Virginia and then a lopsided defeat at KU. Will they bounce back against the Wildcats? This tends to be a good matchup for them. Bruce Weber liked to call Baylor “the most balanced team in our league.”
About Kansas State (12-10, 4-6 Big 12): The Wildcats are coming off back-to-back conference victories and are looking for their first three-game winning streak in Big 12 play since 2019. They managed to beat Oklahoma State and TCU by speeding up the pace of the game and by getting increased production from their front court. Nijel Pack has really made K-State go lately. He is averaging nearly 19 points in conference games this season.
Projected lineups
P | No. | Baylor | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
C | 0 | Flo Thamba | 6-10 | Sr. | 4.8 |
G | 2 | Kendall Brown | 6-8 | Fr. | 10.1 |
G | 24 | Matthew Mayer | 6-9 | Sr. | 9.7 |
G | 10 | Adam Flagler | 6-3 | Jr. | 12.8 |
G | 11 | James Akinjo | 6-1 | Sr. | 12.9 |
P | No. | Kansas State | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
C | 21 | Davion Bradford | 7-0 | So. | 4.0 |
G | 00 | Mike McGuirl | 6-9 | Sr. | 6.5 |
G | 13 | Mark Smith | 6-4 | Sr. | 11.7 |
G | 24 | Nijel Pack | 6-0 | So. | 17.0 |
G | 1 | Markquis Nowell | 5-8 | Jr. | 11.9 |
Prediction
There is hope that K-State could challenge Baylor at home.
The Bears have struggled in their past three games and they haven’t won a road contest since Jan. 22. The Wildcats are also playing at a higher level than when these teams met last month at Ferrell Center.
If Davion Bradford and Carlton Linguard can hold their ground inside and prevent Baylor from lapping K-State in the rebounding department (the Bears out-rebounded the Wildcats 39-28 in their first game), this game could come down to the final minutes.
Still, this has been a challenging matchup for the Wildcats lately. The Bears have more size and athleticism, which makes it easy for Baylor to defend K-State unless K-State’s guards are red hot from the perimeter. There is a reason why Drew’s team has won six straight in this series by a margin of 22.5 points.
Expect this game to be much closer than some of the recent blowouts between these two teams, but Baylor still has the edge.
Baylor 70, K-State 63.