Kansas State hits I-35 south to Oklahoma State in search of its first Big 12 win on Saturday at Gallagher-Iba Arena, with an 8 p.m. CT tipoff on CBS Sports Network. The Wildcats are 9-8 (0-4 Big 12), while the Cowboys come in at 13-4 (1-3 Big 12). It’s been tough sledding as of late for Jerome Tang and Kansas State, with losses in four of their last five games to begin the conference slate in a slump; Oklahoma State is coming off back-to-back losses to Baylor at home (94-79) and at Iowa State (83-71).
TOP STORYLINE: CAN HAGGERTY FUEL THE CATS?
Memphis transfer PJ Haggerty, Kansas State’s leading producer entering Saturday’s game, led the Wildcats with 23 points, five rebounds and five assists in an 82-73 home loss to UCF on Wednesday. He’ll be a necessary component to ending a four-game losing skid to begin conference play. Oklahoma State is shooting 48.4% from the floor right now (3.8 points above the Wildcats) behind senior guard Anthony Roy (17.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.5 apg), and has gotten themselves into some high-scoring races as of late.
MATCH UP TO WATCH: HOW BUSY IS FALLAH INSIDE?
Iranian senior forward Parsa Fallah (15.1 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 0.5 bpg) leads Oklahoma State’s rebounding effort night in and night out. He obviously plays a large part in what the Cowboys are trying to do, and Kansas State must give him a hard time if they want to slow down an offense averaging 88.4 points per night.
PREDICTION: OKLAHOMA STATE 86, KANSAS STATE 77
Baylor played spoiler to Oklahoma State’s 11-game home winning streak on Tuesday, but the Cowboys are still dishing out an average of 90.2 points when they play at home and are still 6-4 through their last 10 games. Kansas State leads the all-time series with Oklahoma State 88-60, but trails the Pokes 38-28 on the road. If you’re Kansas State, you’re hoping to grab either an upset in Stillwater or next week’s home bout with 8-9 Utah, because any oxygen down the final 14-game stretch will be hard to come by.
