Let's check out the Game Notes (provided by K-State Athletics Communications) as well as analysis from Jimmy Goheen for Kansas State and Florida A&M.

Florida A&M will be among the worst teams Kansas State will play this season. Florida A&M hasn't had a winning season since 2007, and this year they are projected to win eight games according to Kenpom. They are an awful offensive team and shoot under 40% on twos for the season. The one thing they do remotely well is get to the free throw line, so the Cats will have to watch fouling. Granted, K-State managed to trail at the half to an equally bad Arkansas Pine Bluff team not long ago, so nothing should be taken for granted.

The Rattlers only play eight guys in their rotation, and none are particularly good. Melton and Randolph are double digit scorers, but only one player has an offensive rating better than 0.90, and no one on their team has an assist to turnover ratio better than 1.0.

K-State is one of the best teams in the country at forcing TOs, so look for the Rattlers to be 25+ for the game with turnovers on at least one-third of their possessions.

GAME 7

KANSAS STATE (4-2) vs. FLORIDA A&M (0-5)

Monday, December 2, 2019 >> 7:02 p.m. CT >> Bramlage Coliseum (12,528) >> Manhattan, Kan.

TELEVISION

Big 12 Now on ESPN+

Ben Boyle (play-by-play)Stan Weber (analyst)Bridget Howard (sideline reporter)

RADIO

K-State Sports Network

Flagships: // KMAN 1350 & WIBW 580

Online: TuneIn.com [free] / www.kstatesports.com/watch [free]

Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play)Matt Walters (analyst)

LIVE STATS

www.kstatesports.com

kstate.statbroadcast.com [media only]

TICKETS

www.kstatesports.com/tickets

(800) 221.CATS [2287]

Advanced Single Game: $5 (bench & GA)

Gameday: $10 (bench & GA)/$20 (chairback)

Group (12+): $3

COACHES

Kansas State: Bruce Weber (Wis.-Milwaukee ’78)

Overall: 467-246/22nd season

At K-State: 154-91/8th season

vs. Florida A&M: 2-0 (2-0 at home)

Florida A&M: Robert McCullum (Birmingham Southern ‘76)

Overall: 105-170/10th season

At Florida A&M: 21-49/3rd season

vs. Kansas State: First meeting

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State (4-2)

G: #00 Mike McGuirl

G: #2 Cartier Diarra

G/F: #20 Xavier Sneed

F: #11 Antonio Murphy

F: #14 Makol Mawien

Florida A&M (0-5)

G: #2 Kamron Reaves

G: #3 M.J. Randolph

G: #4 Rod Melton, Jr.

F: #24 D.J. Jones

C: #34 Evins Desire

SERIES HISTORY

Overall: K-State leads 3-0

Current Streak: K-State, 3

In Manhattan: K-State leads 2-0

At Bramlage Coliseum: K-State leads 2-0

Last Meeting: W, 96-57 [11/14/08 in Manhattan]

Weber vs. McCullum: First meeting

OPENING TIP

Kansas State (4-2) returns home to Bramlage Coliseum on Monday night, as the Wildcats begin a 3-game homestand with a visit from MEAC member Florida A&M (0-5) at 7 p.m., CT. The homestand includes visits from Marquette (5-2) in the highly anticipated Big 12/Big East battle on Saturday night and concludes with a visit from Alabama State (1-6) on Wednesday, Dec. 11. The Wildcats have won 11 straight games at Bramlage Coliseum in the month of December dating to the 2015-16 season.

K-State will look to get back on the winning track after a pair of disappointing losses to Pittsburgh (59-63) and Bradley (60-73) at the Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans Fort Myers Tipoff on Nov. 25 and 27. It marked the first time in more than 10 years that the Wildcats have gone winless in a regular-season tournament since losing back-to-back games to Kentucky and Iowa at the 2008 Las Vegas Invitational. The team struggled on both ends of the court, averaging just 59.5 points on 39.8 percent shooting, including 34.1 percent from 3-point range, and 42.3 percent from the free throw line, while allowing 68 points on 48.4 percent shooting, including 35.9 percent from long range.

Bradley’s 73 points and 13 made 3-pointers were the most since Iowa State totaled 78 points and 14 treys at Bramlage Coliseum on Feb. 16, 2019. The Wildcats have won 32 consecutive games against non-conference opponents at Bramlage Coliseum since the start of the 2015-16 season. Overall, the school has a 108-6 (.946) record at home venues in non-conference play since 2006-07, including 99-5 (.951) at Bramlage Coliseum, and has won 95 of its last 99 non-conference home games. The team is 4-2 in non-conference action in 2019-20, including 3-0 at home venues. The last non-conference home loss came to Tulsa, 61-54, on Dec. 9, 2017 in Wichita, while the last at Bramlage came to Georgia, 50-46, on Dec. 31, 2014.

After looking to be a second-half team through the first 4 games, the Wildcats were the complete opposite in the two losses to Pittsburgh and Bradley. The team averaged 26 points in the second half of their two losses on 34.4 percent (21-of-61) shooting, including 25 percent (6-of-24) from 3-point range, and 28.6 percent (4-of-14) from the free throw line compared to averaging 41.5 points after halftime in their first 4 games on 50 percent (55-of-110) shooting, including 39 percent (16-of-41) from long range, and 78.4 percent (40-of-51) from the line. The Wildcats were up 30-28 on the Panthers at the half and trailed the Braves just 38-37 at the break, but allowed their opponents to each score 35 points on combined 50 percent (23-of-46) shooting, including 40 percent (6-of-15) from 3-point range, after halftime.

With the offense still developing, K-State has relied on its defensive foundation to grind out wins over North Dakota State, UNLV, Monmouth and Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the early going. The team is allowing 58.5 points on 40.3 percent shooting (122-of-303), including 29.9 percent (38-of-127) from 3-point range, while forcing 20.2 turnovers per game. The Wildcats rank first in the Big 12 in steals (10.2 spg.) and opponent turnovers (20.2) and third in scoring defense and 3-point field goal percentage defense. After holding NDSU to 54 points, UNLV to 56, Monmouth to 54 and Arkansas-Pine Bluff to 51, the team has now held 91 opponents (including 22 of their last 39 foes) to 60 points or less in the Weber era (nearly 40 percent of the 245 opponents) with the Wildcats boasting an 83-8 (.912) mark in those contests.

***Fast forward to segment two to listen to hoops talk on The KSO Show***

NOTES ON FLORIDA A&M

Florida A&M enters Monday’s game winless through its first five games, which includes 3 road losses at USC (48-77), Hawai’i (52-65) and No. 13 Seton Hall (51-87) to go along with neutral site setbacks to Pacific (54-76) and South Dakota (82-85) as part of the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, Hawai’i. The Rattlers continue their road trip at Tennessee on Wednesday before a trip to West Coast to face Portland (Dec. 16), Washington State (Dec. 19) and Seattle (Dec. 21) before wrapping non-conference play at Iowa State. The team’s first official home game will be on Jan. 11 against Morgan State.

Florida A&M is averaging 57.4 points on 35.3 percent shooting, including 24.2 percent from 3-point range, with 33.8 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 8.0 steals and 1.8 blocks per game, while allowing 78 points on 46.6 percent shooting, including 33.3 percent from 3-point range. The team has connected on 67.2 percent from the free throw line.A balanced team with eight of the nine players averaging better than 3.8 points per game led by senior Rod Melton, Jr. (11.2 ppg.) and sophomore M.J. Randolph (10.0 ppg.), who are both averaging in double figures. Melton leads the team in field goals made (18) and 3-point field goals (8), while shooting 29 percent from the field and 26.7 percent from 3-point range. Randolph leads the team in rebounding (6.2 rpg.) and steals (2.2 spg.), while shooting 45.7 percent. Junior Bryce Moragne is averaging 8.4 points on a team-best 56 percent shooting to go with 5.4 rebounds per game. Juniors Evins Desir and Kamron Reaves average 7.2 and 6.6 points per game.

Florida A&M returns 10 lettermen, including 3 starters, from a team that posted a 12-19 overall record, including a 9-7 mark in MEAC play, in head coach Robert McCullum’s second season. McCullum is his 10th season as a head coach, which includes stints at Western Michigan (2000-03) and South Florida (2003-07). He is 105-170 in his head coaching career, including 21-49 in his third season at Florida A&M.

K-STATE/FLORIDA A&M CONNECTIONS

Florida A&M head coach Robert McCullum spent one season at K-State as an assistant coach to Lon Kruger during the 1989-90 season. He helped the Wildcats to a 17-15 overall record, including a 7-7 mark in the Big Eight, and a fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.McCullum would follow to Kruger to Florida the next season in 1991-92, spending the next 9 seasons on his coaching staffs with the Gators (1991-96) and Illinois (1996-2000) before becoming coach at Western Michigan.McCullum was also part of the staff at Southern Illinois (1987-89) that recruited current K-State associate head coach Chris Lowery to SIU.

SERIES HISTORY

K-State and Florida A&M will meet for the fourth time on Tuesday night with the Wildcats winning the previous 3 meetings, all at home venues, by an average of 37 points. The teams’ first met at Bramlage Coliseum on Nov. 27, 1990, a 93-48 Wildcat win, followed by victories on Dec. 17, 2007 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City and at Bramlage on Nov. 14, 2008.This will be the third meeting for head coach Bruce Weber against Florida A&M, but his first at K-State. His previous two wins came at Illinois, including a 91-60 win on Nov. 21, 2004 and an 84-63 win on Nov. 19, 2006.K-State is 24-0 all-time against teams from the MEAC with all 24 wins coming at home. This will be the first meeting with a MEAC opponent since an 80-53 win over UMES on Nov. 13, 2015.

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