K-State Wildcats vs. Wichita State Shockers: Basketball game time, TV, odds and pick

Kansas State and Wichita State will renew their basketball rivalry on Saturday at Koch Arena in Wichita.

Both teams desperately need a victory before they turn their focus to conference play.

Here’s everything you need to know before tipoff, including a score prediction:

When: 6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Koch Arena in Wichita

Stream: ESPN+

Radio: KCSP (610 AM) in Kansas City, KFH (1240 AM and 97.5 FM) and KEYN (103.7 FM) in Wichita

Betting line: K-State by 2.5

Over/under: 141.5

STARTING LINEUPS

About Wichita State (8-3)

The Shockers got off to a great start in their first nine games but they have dropped consecutive contests to DePaul and UMKC. Losing to the Kangaroos was particularly frustrating for the Shockers, and they will look to bounce back against the Wildcats. Justin Hill has led Wichita State in scoring this season with Corey Washington following close behind. Wichita State takes excellent care of the ball and only commits turnovers on 14% of its possessions.

About Kansas State (6-4)

The Wildcats are off to their worst start since the 2019-20 season when they won just 11 games under former coach Bruce Weber. Their four losses have come against LSU, Liberty, St. John’s and Drake. K-State lost to the Bulldogs in overtime but showed fight in the second half. Jerome Tang switched to freshman David Castillo as a starting point guard. But CJ Jones and Dug McDaniel saw plenty of playing time off the bench. David N’Guessan and Brednan Hausen lead the team in scoring.

K-State game prediction

This isn’t the matchup that Kansas State and Wichita State had in mind when they agreed to start playing each other again four years ago.

The Wildcats have already played themselves out of contention for an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament. The Shockers are coming off a pair of double-digit losses against DePaul and UMKC.

But, hey, at least one of these teams is guaranteed to win.

There are reasons to expect K-State will come out on top.

Jerome Tang’s team has played well at times in each of its past two games. The Wildcats led St. John’s at halftime and went on a 42-20 run against Drake. They lost those games because they ran out of gas against the Red Storm and started slow against the Bulldogs.

Perhaps they will be able to play more of a complete game against Wichita State.

This will certainly be a step down in competition for the Wildcats. They have won all six of their games against teams rated outside the top 100 in Bart Torvik’s college basketball database. And the Shockers are currently at No. 112.

Brendan Hausen should be able to make 3-pointers against a defense that is allowing opponents to shoot 32.6% from beyond the arc. And K-State’s point guards should pile up assists against a defense that doesn’t force many turnovers.

The biggest fear for K-State is that Wichita State builds an early lead and then benefits from a big home-court advantage. The Wildcats haven’t won a meaningful game yet, so it would hard to trust them to change that in a rowdy environment.

But the Wildcats are the better team, despite their record. They have played well, at times, over the past few weeks. If they can find a little more consistency they will pick up an important road win before Christmas.

K-State 75, Wichita State 69

Last game prediction: K-State 67, Drake 66

Actual score: Drake 73, K-State 70

Season record: 7-3

Season record ATS: 4-6

Season record O/U: 5-5.

Kellis Robinett

The Wichita Eagle

Kellis Robinett covers Kansas State athletics for The Wichita Eagle and The Kansas City Star. A winner of more than a dozen national writing awards, he lives in Manhattan with his wife and four children.