Game Notes: Kansas State at UNLV

Thank you to K-State Athletics Communications for providing the following game notes for Saturday's Kansas State at UNLV match-up.

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GAME 2

KANSAS STATE (1-0) at UNLV (1-0)

Saturday, November 9, 2019 >> 3:02 p.m. CT >> Thomas & Mack Center (17,923) >> Las Vegas, Nev.

TELEVISION

ESPN+

Trey Bender (play-by-play)Richie Schueler (analyst)

RADIO

K-State Sports Network

Available on the following stations with the football overlap

102.5 FM (Manhattan)94.5 FM (Topeka)980 AM (Kansas City)1550 AM (Wichita)

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

Satellite Channel 986 [internet only]

Brian Smoller (play-by-play)Ben Boyle (analyst)

LIVE STATS

unlvrebels.com

TICKETS

unlvtickets.com

(702) 739.FANS [3267]

Single Game: $22-$154

COACHES

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

Overall: 464-244/22nd season

At K-State: 151-89/8th season

vs. UNLV: 1-1 (0-0 on the road)

UNLV: T.J. Otzelberger (Wisconsin-Whitewater ‘01)

Overall: 71-33/4th season

At UNLV: 1-0/1st season

vs. Kansas State: First meeting

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State (1-0)

G: #00 Mike McGuirl

G: #2 Cartier Diarra

G/F: #20 Xavier Sneed

F: #23 Montavious Murphy

F: #14 Makol Mawien

UNLV (1-0)

G: #3 Amauri Hardy

G: #10 Jonah Antonio

G: #55 Elijah Mitrou-Long

F: #7 Donnie Tillman

F: #34 Cheikh Mbacke Diong

SERIES HISTORY

Overall: UNLV leads 4-2

Current Streak: UNLV, 1

In Las Vegas: UNLV leads 2-1

At Thomas & Mack Center: UNLV leads 2-0

Last Meeting: L, 59-63 [12/21/2010 in Kansas City, Mo.]

Weber vs. Otzelberger: First meeting

OPENING TIP

Kansas State (1-0) hits the road for the first time in 2019-20 on Saturday, as the Wildcats travel to Las Vegas, Nev., to take on the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels (1-0) at 3 p.m., CT at the Thomas & Mack Center. It is the first game of a home-and-home series with the Rebels set to visit Bramlage Coliseum in 2020-21. K-State will be making its fourth visit to Las Vegas to play UNLV and the first since a 95-80 win at the Orleans Arena on Dec. 12, 2009. It will also be the third all-time visit to the Thomas & Mack Center and the first since a 77-68 loss on Dec. 28, 1984. Overall, the Rebels own a 4-2 all-time series lead, which dates back to 1982, including a 2-1 mark at home.

Saturday’s contest will be the earliest non-conference road game in school history, eclipsing the previous mark of Nov. 16, which has been done twice in school history, first in 1994 (Alabama/ season opener) and lastly in 1999 (Arizona/season opener). The Wildcats went 7-5 on the road in 2018-19, including a program-best 7-2 in Big 12 play, but lost all three of their non-conference road games (at Marquette, Tulsa and Texas A&M). The last non-conference road wins came during the 2017-18 season when the Wildcats won at Vanderbilt (84-79) and at Washington State (68-65).

K-State opened the season with a hard-fought 67-54 win over preseason Summit League favorite North Dakota State on Tuesday night. Behind the play of junior Cartier Diarra who scored a career-high 23 points, the Wildcats used a second-half resurgence to break open a tight game. It marked the first time the school has opened a season against an NCAA Tournament opponent in nearly 20 seasons (an 88-69 loss at Arizona on Nov. 16, 1999) and the first time at home since hosting Purdue (with then head coach and K-State alum Gene Keady and assistant coach Bruce Weber) in the first-ever game at Bramlage Coliseum on Nov. 26, 1988.

Down by as many as five points in the first half, including by one (22-21) at the half, the Wildcats looked like a completely different team in the second half, more than doubling their first-half production with a 46-point second half that came on 51.6 percent (16-of-31) shooting, including 55.6 percent (5-of-9) from 3-point range. It was the most second-half points since scoring 50 points in a come-from-behind win over West Virginia at home on Jan. 9, 2019. Of Diarra’s 23-points, 15 came in the second half, while senior Makol Mawien posted the majority of his third double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds after halftime (8 points and 8 rebounds). With Tuesday’s win, K-State is now 91-25 (.784) all-time in season openers dating to the first season in 1903, including a 79-9 (.898) mark at home. The Wildcats have a 26-2 (.929) record in season openers played at Bramlage Coliseum. Overall, the team is now 28-4 (.875) at Bramlage Coliseum in home openers. The win also extended its winning streak to 30 games against non-conference opponents at Bramlage Coliseum since 2015-16. Head coach Bruce Weber is now 7-1 (.875) in season openers at K-State. K-State went 2-0 in exhibition play, knocking off Emporia State, 86-49, on Oct. 25 before a 66-56 win over Washburn on Oct. 30. The Wildcats have now won 26 consecutive exhibition games at Bramlage Coliseum since 2003, including 16 straight under Weber. Xavier Sneed (14.0 ppg.) was one of 4 Wildcats to average double figures in exhibition play, along with Antonio Gordon (11.0), Montavious Murphy (10.5) and Makol Mawien (10.0).

NOTES ON UNLV

UNLV (1-0) returns six lettermen, including two starters (Amauri Hardy and Cheikh Mbacke Diong), from a squad that posted a 17-14 overall record and finished in a tie for fourth place in the Mountain West standings. The Runnin’ Rebels, who have a new head coach in former South Dakota State head coach T.J. Otzelberger, have 8 newcomers. Otzelberger, who also spent time at Iowa State, posted a 70-33 mark in 3 seasons at SDSU.

UNLV opened the 2019-20 season with an 86-71 win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Tuesday night, as all five Runnin’ Rebel starters scored in double figures, including 17 points from Diong and junior college transfer Jonah Antonio. Diong also posted 17 rebounds. Leading by as many as 21 points, the Rebels connected on 51.9 percent from the field, including 60 percent in the first half. Utah transfer Donnie Tillman (16 points), Hardy (15) and Texas transfer Elijah Mitrou-Long (11) also registered double figures. UNLV were also impressive in its lone exhibition to start the season with a 112-54 win over West Coast Baptist College on Oct. 25. Antonio led all Rebels with 23 points, while Diong added 19 points and 8 rebounds.

A season ago, the Rebels averaged 73.4 points per game on 42.2 percent shooting, including 33.4 percent from 3-point range, with 38.8 rebounds, 12.9 assists, 5.9 steals and 3.7 blocks per game, while allowing opponents to average 72.3 points on 44.2 percent shooting, including 35.3 percent from long range. The team connected on 68.5 percent from the free throw line.Hardy is one of 7 returning lettermen, including two starters, in 2019-20, as he averaged 13.1 points on 43.9 percent shooting, including 34.1 percent from 3-point range, to go with 3.5 assists and 3.0 rebounds in 29.6 minutes per game. Diong, a native of Senegal, averaged 6.9 points on 59.1 percent shooting as a sophomore to go with 6.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game.

The team also returns senior Nick Blair (6.3 ppg., 5.3 rpg.), sophomores Bryce Hamilton (4.3 ppg., 1.6 rpg.) and Marvin Coleman (1.5 ppg., 0.3 rpg.) and junior Cheickna Dembele (1.4 ppg., 2.7 rpg.).Head coach T.J. Otzelberger enters his fourth season as a head coach, including his first at UNLV, with a 71-33 overall record. He led South Dakota State to 70 wins from 2016-19, including consecutive seasons of 28 and 24 wins to go with two trips to the NCAA Tournament and one bid to the NIT. He also spent time as an assistant coach at Iowa State during two stints from 2006-13 and 2015-16 for Greg McDermott and Fred Hoiberg, including serving as associate head coach from 2010-13. The Cyclones won 23 games in each of his last three seasons with 3 NCAA Tournaments.

SERIES HISTORY

K-State and UNLV will meet for the seventh time on Friday in a series that dates back to an 82-65 win at Ahearn Field House in Manhattan on Jan. 4, 1982. The Runnin’ Rebels won matchups at the Thomas & Mack Center on Dec. 17, 1983 (84-78) and Dec. 28, 1984 (77-68) before the two teams met in the 1987 NCAA Tournament with the Rebels winning 80-61 in Salt Lake City. The teams have split the last two meetings with the Wildcats winning 95-80 at the Orleans Arena on Dec. 12, 2009 and the Rebels winning 63-59 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City on Dec. 21, 2010. This will be third-ever matchup for head coach Bruce Weber against UNLV with both coming during his stint at Illinois. Weber defeated the Rebels, 73-62, in the first round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament in Tulsa, Okla., before losing 64-48 on Dec. 17, 2012 at the United Center in Chicago. K-State is 35-18 against teams from the Mountain West Conference, which includes an 8-13 mark on the road. This will be the first road trip to a MWC school since losing matchups against New Mexico (54-78) and Colorado State (83-84) during the 2006-07 season. The Wildcats did defeat CSU, 89-70, on the road on Dec. 17, 2016, but that game was played at the Pepsi Center.

NEXT UP: MONMOUTH (1-0)

K-State returns home to Bramlage Coliseum on Wednesday, Nov. 13 when the Wildcats play host to Monmouth (1-0) at 7 p.m. It will be the first meeting between the schools since a 73-64 win by K-State on Dec. 29, 2002.

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