Wichita State anticipating largest Koch Arena crowd in years for K-State game

For the first time in 22 years, the Wichita State men’s basketball team will play Kansas State at Koch Arena in a 6 p.m. game on Saturday.

While the final game of a four-year series between the in-state rivals isn’t on pace to be the first Roundhouse sellout since March 8, 2020, Saturday’s game could contend for the largest crowd at Koch Arena since the coronavirus pandemic — the current mark is 9,070 for a WSU-Houston game on Feb. 20, 2022.

After a disconcerting stumble earlier this week, the Shockers (8-3) will have a chance to earn some kind of redemption with what would be the first victory over the Wildcats (6-4) since 2001 in front of their largest crowd at Koch Arena in the Paul Mills era (previous high is 7,187 vs. Southern Illinois last December).

“I anticipate a really good crowd, (WSU athletic director) Kevin Saal told us that the number should be really good,” Mills said on Thursday. “(K-State) has a good basketball team, so we’re in for a heck of a fight on Saturday, but one we’re up for.”

In order to avoid its losing streak extending to three games, WSU will need to execute a 180-degree turnaround from its play in Tuesday’s 74-64 loss to Kansas City. The Shockers were listless for most of the first 35 minutes and paid by suffering one of the worst nonconference losses at home in the last 25 years.

Mills was disgusted by the Shockers playing like an “entitled” basketball team.

“I honestly can’t think of a characteristic I dislike more,” Mills said. “We played entitled basketball. We just thought we were going to win. We didn’t feel like we needed to do the energy or make sure we’re following through on the things that we had covered. We thought, ‘Hey, being 8-2 and playing a home game, alright, we’re going to bounce back.’ That’s not the way this works.

“You have to compete with joy. You have to compete with a level of gratefulness every time out, like I’m thankful for this opportunity and I’m going to express my gratitude by demonstrating that and we didn’t. We were an entitled basketball team.”

It was a bizarre performance from an experienced team, as Mills said he felt like Monday’s practice before the game was one of the best of the season. WSU is a senior-laden team with veterans who know better than to overlook an opponent.

Yet the Shockers played their most undisciplined game of the season. Their offense was lethargic and their defense was uncharacteristically scatter-brained. That’s what had Mills fuming after reviewing the game on film: WSU consistently blew defensive assignments due to mental lapses and lack of communication.

“My daughter asked me this the other day, ‘What’s the worst thing that can happen in the game of basketball?’” Mills said. “The worst thing would have to be not communicating. Like that takes zero level of talent. Just not saying anything, four guys on one page and then you have that one guy who’s different. That happened way too much.”

The prevailing hope on the team is that Tuesday’s loss will serve as a wake-up call and WSU will realize its potential going forward. That’s a nice thought, but after such a debacle last game, WSU will have to prove it first.

While K-State has underachieved to date this season, the Wildcats are still dangerous with a roster stocked with major talent like forward David N’Guessan (14.1 points, 7.0 rebounds), forward Coleman Hawkins (9.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists), sharpshooter Brendan Hausen (14.0 points) and spark plug Dug McDaniel (10.7 points, 5.0 assists) off the bench.

WSU must return to its three pillars — protect the ball, share the ball and rebound the ball — in order to have a chance to score its first win over the Wildcats in Wichita since 2000.

“It’s a great opportunity to realize that this is a game that honors toughness,” Mills said. “It’s not limited to certain programs. Anybody on any night. The more and more I watched (Tuesday’s game), I just thought we played entitled basketball. You need those moments to alleviate that stuff and wash and cleanse that stuff as quickly as possible because that’s not something that can continue to progress or you’re going to end up in a downfall.”

Tuesday’s game also marks the conclusion of a four-year series between the two in-state rivals. K-State won 65-59 at Intrust Bank Arena in 2021, 55-50 at Bramlage Coliseum in 2022 and 69-60 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City in 2023.

Mills said he has interest in renewing the series against K-State following this season. In fact, he’s already brought it up with K-State coach Jerome Tang, whom he worked alongside for many years on Scott Drew’s staff at Baylor.

“Jerome was actually at my house for four hours in July,” Mills said. “We were visiting about a number of things and as he was leaving, I said, ‘Hey, we’re going to renew this series, right?’ He said, ‘Well, we’ll talk about it later.’ So we’ll see how this plays out. I’ll leave that up to smarter people than me, but it is a good series and I hate to see it coming to an end. We’ll see what materializes after this.”

Kansas State at Wichita State basketball preview

Records: KSU 6-4, WSU 8-3

When: 6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Koch Arena (10,506), Wichita

How to watch: ESPN+ (Shane Dennis with Bob Hull)

Radio: KEYN, 103.7-FM (Mike Kennedy with Dave Dahl)

Series history: KSU leads 23-11 (WSU leads 9-7 in Wichita)

Betting line: No odds yet

KenPom says: KSU 76, WSU 75

Projected starting lineups

Kansas State Wildcats (6-4)

Coach: Jerome Tang, third season, 51-29

Wichita State Shockers (8-3)

Coach: Paul Mills, second season, 23-22

This story was originally published December 20, 2024 at 7:47 AM.

Taylor Eldridge

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6270

Wichita State athletics beat reporter. Bringing you closer to the Shockers you love and inside the sports you love to watch.