K-State Wildcats vs. Cal Golden Bears: Basketball lineups, TV, time, score prediction
THE DETAILS
When/where: 6 p.m. Friday, Haas Pavilion
TV: Pac-12 Network
Radio: KCSP (610 AM) in Kansas City, KKGQ (92.3 FM) in Wichita
Betting line: K-State by 5
Over/Under: 135
STARTING LINEUPS
P | No. | Kansas State | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 3 | David N’Guessan | 6-9 | Jr. | 5.0 |
F | 35 | Nae’Qwan Tomlin | 6-10 | Jr. | 14.0 |
F | 11 | Keyontae Johnson | 6-9 | Sr. | 13.0 |
G | 5 | Cam Carter | 6-3 | So. | 6.0 |
G | 1 | Markquis Nowell | 5-8 | Sr. | 14.0 |
P | No. | California | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 21 | Lars Thiemann | 7-1 | Sr. | 17.0 |
F | 24 | Sam Alajiki | 6-7 | So. | 4.0 |
F | 13 | Kuany Kuany | 6-9 | Sr. | 10.0 |
G | 55 | Devin Askew | 6-3 | Jr. | 19.0 |
G | 1 | Joel Brown | 6-3 | Sr. | 5.0 |
About Kansas State (1-0): The Wildcats won their opening game with ease and trounced Texas-Rio Grande Valley 93-59 earlier this week. Now they will head out onto the road for their first away game of the season against Cal. K-State got big production from Nae’Qwan Tomlin, Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson against UTRGV. But nine different players scored in that game. There wasn’t much of a dropoff when Jerome Tang went to the bench. This game will be interesting from a matchup perspective, because it will be the first time we see the Wildcats go against a team with a size advantage in the front court.
About California (0-1): The Golden Bears are coached by a familiar face. Mark Fox was born in Garden City and served as an assistant coach with the Wildcats from 1994-2000. He went on to have great success as a head coach at Nevada, where he reached the NCAA Tournament in three straight seasons, and then spent nine years at Georgia before taking over at Cal. His current team features lots of size. Three of its starters are 6-foot-7 or taller, and one of them is 7-foot-1. Junior guard Devin Askew led Cal in its opener with 19 points.
Prediction
Tang said he went out of his way to add a road game against Cal to the schedule this season in order to give the Wildcats a difficult early game away from Bramlage Coliseum. That might not be what K-State gets on Friday at Haas Pavilion. The Golden Bears look anything look a good team after they lost their opener 75-65 against UC-Davis. It’s also unlikely that much of a crowd will show up to watch this game. For those reasons, K-State is understandably the favorite here. It could run into some problems against Cal’s front court, which features 7-foot-1 forward Lars Thiemann inside. The Wildcats won’t have the same size advantage that they previously enjoyed against UTRGV. That may force them to make some outside shots, which is not their forte.
Still, K-State seems like the more talented team. Cal only won 12 games last season and is rated No. 160 nationally by college basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy this year. I like the Wildcats to win and to cover.
Kansas State 76, Cal 69.
Last game prediction: K-State 77, UTRGV 57.
Season record: 1-0.
Season record against the spread: 1-0.