Wildcats look to bounce back against Texas

January 17, 2012|By Jenn Bates | KWCH 12 Eyewitness Sports

{MANHATTAN, Kan.} — It's been another slow start to conference play for the 25th-ranked Kansas State Wildcats (12-4, 1-3) as they come off two tough losses to host Texas on Wednesday night.

Of course this slow start is nothing new for head coach Frank Martin whose last three Wildcats teams have started either 0-4 or 1-3 in conference play. The last two years those teams have rallied back and earned byes in the conference tournament.

The 'Cats last game was an 82-73 loss at Oklahoma; it was a game where the Wildcats never had the lead. K-state did have the lead at home against Baylor just a few days before but were unable to finish as the Bears came back to win by two.

The biggest problem for Kansas State lately has been turnovers. Right now the Wildcats are averaging more than 16 turnovers per game and have had 20 and 19 in their last two games against Baylor and Oklahoma respectively.

The Texas Longhorns (12-5, 2-2) have fared just a little better than the Wildcats this season but have wins against two of the lower-ranked teams in the conference (Texas A&M and Oklahoma State). The Longhorns are led in scoring by J'Covan Brown who also leads the conference in scoring with just over 19 points per game.

Kansas State has won three of the last four matchups between these two teams and also the last two in a row. This is the first time that Texas comes into Bramlage unranked since 2005.

Thursday night's game starts about 8 pm at Bramlage Coliseum and will be televised nationally on ESPN 2. You can get highlights of the game coming up Wednesday night on Eyewitness Sports at ten.

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