No. 21 Cougars host upset-minded Kansas State as Wildcats visit Marriott Center for first time since 1971
As BYU gets acquainted with its new rivals in the Big 12, its coaches and players have found themselves using the league’s biggest basketball brand, Kansas, as a measuring stick.
For instance, UCF and West Virginia must be pretty good, the Cougars said before facing the Knights and Mountaineers, because both of those teams knocked off Kansas before they faced BYU.
“They are really, really tough. They are very physical. Looking at it on TV, you may not think so. But they are grown men, right? Most of them have wives, right? They are just mature. They approach the game a little bit different, like an adult. All of them. And they are very physical. They hit you on every cut. Just very, very physical. So we are going to have to be ready for that.” — Kansas State coach Jerome Tang on BYU
Coach Mark Pope’s team also downed another team that would go on to beat Kansas in January, Iowa State. But that doesn’t mean they are taking visiting Kansas State any more lightly this week.
The Wildcats (5-5, 15-8) play in the Marriott Center on Saturday night (8 p.m., ESPN2) having downed No. 4 Kansas 75-70 in overtime on Monday at their home court in Manhattan, Kansas.
Pope and senior guard Spencer Johnson said the Wildcats have had their attention since the Big 12 schedule came out, but acknowledged that KSU’s recent upset win adds to the urgency in their preparation.
“They are a good team. I mean, they just beat Kansas. Seems like we always get to play the guys some time soon after they beat Kansas,” Pope said Thursday. “They play with a ton of energy. Their backcourt is really explosive with the one, two and three (positions), really explosive with the three guys that can go get their own basket at all three levels.”
Kansas State had lost four straight games before upsetting their Sunflower State rivals, just another reminder that nobody’s safe in the Big 12, home or away.
“Any team can beat any team on any night, as we have seen. And there is no time to sit there and (stew) and say, ‘Omigosh, we lost, what are we going to do?’” Johnson said after BYU fell 82-66 at Oklahoma on Tuesday. “We have another big, top-25 (caliber) team in three days. We just gotta move on. You gotta learn from it and move on and there is not time to sit there and dwell on it.”
Saturday marks Kansas State’s first visit to Provo since Dec. 3, 1971. That game was significant because it was BYU’s first game in the newly opened, 23,000-seat Marriott Activities Center (now the Marriott Center, with more than 4,000 fewer seats).
The Cougars broke in their new palace the right way with a 78-72 win over a K-State team that featured freshman guard Lon Kruger, who would go on to coach at his alma mater, and also at Florida, Illinois, UNLV and Oklahoma, and in the NBA for the Atlanta Hawks.
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BYU legend Kresimir Cosic outplayed Kruger, however, scoring 30 points and grabbing 18 rebounds while never leaving the floor.
But that’s all ancient history for the Cougars, who are still trying to get back to full strength and looking for a Cosic-like star willing to step up and make plays in the second half.
Pope said Thursday they are “hopeful” that big man Aly Khalifa can play, after the Charlotte transfer stayed home during the recent road trip to West Virginia and Oklahoma with an undisclosed illness and a sore knee.
Power forward Noah Waterman has also been ill, but played against the Mountaineers and Sooners, scoring just three points in more than 40 minutes.
“It has kinda been the whole team (feeling ill),” Pope said. “Noah probably was hit as hard as anybody. I wish (it was just food poisoning) because that would have been a shorter term. But he hasn’t been feeling well for a while.”
Pope said KSU not only has one of the best backcourts in the league, it also features plenty of bigs who are “tenacious on the glass” and outstanding screen-setters.
“They can hurt you around the rim, run the floor really, really hard,” Pope said. “And so they are a well put-together, well thought-out team that is coming off an Elite Eight year (in the NCAA Tournament). It is another great team. … We are super excited for the game. I am glad it is at home, too.”
Asked about BYU on Thursday, KSU coach Jerome Tang said he was on the Baylor coaching staff on Dec. 17, 2011, when the Bears edged BYU 86-83 at the Marriott Center.
Cougars on the air
Kansas State (5-5, 15-8)
at No. 21 BYU (4-5, 16-6)
Saturday, 8 p.m. MST
Marriott Center,Provo, Utah
TV: ESPN2
Radio:102.7 FM/1160 AM
“Man, can they shoot the basketball,” Tang said, then mentioned how BYU center Fouss Traore “is a problem” with his ability to score in the low post, and also find his teammates for open 3-pointers.
“They are really, really tough. They are very physical. Looking at it on TV, you may not think so. But they are grown men, right? Most of them have wives, right? They are just mature,” Tang said. “They approach the game a little bit different, like an adult. All of them. And they are very physical. They hit you on every cut. Just very, very physical. So we are going to have to be ready for that.”
Tang is right about BYU’s players being older, for the most part. However, only four are married: Johnson, Trevin Knell, Richie Saunders and senior walk-on Tredyn Christensen.
Backup center Atiki Ally Atiki is engaged to be married.
