Winners and Losers: Both Kansas State teams have strong week
KSO covers the biggest winners and losers in the world of Kansas State and college athletics.
Winners
1.) Perry: Kansas State fans finally got to see the Tylor Perry they were expecting when taking down UCF in the Big 12 opener. The North Texas transfer hit six three-pointers, with five coming in the second half. Perry finished as the leading scorer with 25 points in the K-State win over the Knights.
2.) New hire: Chris Klieman and Kansas State officially announced Matt Wells as co-offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and associate head coach. Conor Riley was also promoted to the offensive coordinator position and is staying as offensive line coach at K-State. Both Wells and Riley were introduced at the basketball game Saturday in front of a large crowd at Bramlage Coliseum.
3.) Mittie: Keeping the good vibes going, the Kansas State women’s basketball team keeps on rolling. Jeff Mittie’s team is now 15-1 on the season. Their 72-56 victory over UCF is the closest victory for them this season since November 25. The Wildcats been absolutely hammering teams this season.
4.) Bat Cats: The hype around K-State baseball is as high as it has been in a long time. Pete Hughes’ team has postseason expectations and have been called a sleeper team in the Big 12 by many national outlets. In the Perfect Game preseason top 25 poll, the Wildcats are ranked No. 20 and the third highest ranked Big 12 team.
5.) Houston: After the first wave of chaos on Saturday, Houston is now the only undefeated team left in college basketball. For the most part the Cougars have been demolishing teams this season as well and just beat West Virginia by 34 points in their first Big 12 contest.
Losers
1.) UCF: It was a rough day for UCF on the hardwood Saturday. Between the men’s and women’s basketball games, the Knights were out-scored by 41 points by Kansas State. The final score of both games did not indicate how lopsided either game was, to be honest. The K-State men were up 35 at one point in the second half.
2.) Refs: You knew this had to be on here. The only place that Ernest Udeh flagrant foul is called in that moment is at Allen Fieldhouse. It was officiating malpractice all around. The game should not have stopped with TCU on a fast break to review the play, either. Don’t forget Hunter Dickinson not only pushed off to score the game-winner, but he also traveled. At this point, it is no longer a surprise in that building. We have seen questionable calls at best when Kansas State has played in Lawrence as well.
3.) BYU: To be honest, I was never a real believer in BYU this basketball season. Starting conference play with an 11-point loss at home to Cincinnati makes me feel good about my prediction.
4.) Drinkwitz: Unfortunately for the Tigers, Missouri defensive coordinator Blake Baker left for the defensive coordinator job at LSU after tweeting he was not going to leave Columbia via the Leonardo DiCaprio .gif from Wolf of Wall Street. To make matters worse for Tiger fans, they have really struggled on the basketball court this year, too. Missouri is now 8-6 on the season, and it does not get an easier with a trip to Kentucky coming up next.
5.) Bruins: Another team that has really struggled early this season is UCLA. The Bruins are now 6-9 on the season and the only power conference team UCLA has beat to begin their 2023-2024 campaign is an awful Oregon State team.
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