Let's preview today's Kansas State basketball match-up with Tulsa with analysis from Jimmy Goheen and game notes from K-State Athletics Communications.

We all know what happened the last two years when Kansas State played Tulsa.

The unfortunate thing going into this year is that this isn't a big upset opportunity for the Golden Hurricanes, and on paper this is a pretty even match up. Frank Haith's bunch is basically average at about everything when it comes to the four factors, and they come into this game with a bad loss to Arkansas State, mediocre losses to UT Arlington and Colorado State, plus a loss to Arkansas.

Tulsa's most significant wins are over Boise State, Vanderbilt, and Oral Roberts.

Tulsa is led by LSU transfer Brandon Rachal along with returners Jeriah Horne and Martins Igbanu. The Golden Hurricane lost three of their top five scorers from a year ago. Horne and Korita are the biggest 3-point threats, but handling Rachal and Igbanu on 2s will be the key.

What to watch:

Who wins from 2: K-State once again came up short on 2PT% against St. Louis, only hitting 46% compared to the Billikens' 58%. They were only around 33% in losses to Miss State, Marquette, and Pitt. Last year Tulsa out-shot K-State on twos 50% to 33%. Needless to say, winning or even staying equal from two will likely decide this game.

Turning over Tulsa: K-State is one of the best in the country at forcing turnovers, ranking sixth nationally at over 26%. However, K-State has had its own issues in their last two losses with turnovers on over 1/4 of their possessions. K-State needs to force TOs at a 25% clip while keeping its own under 20%.

Two out of Three stepping up: Of the big three returners, Xavier Sneed has been the most consistent player this year with disappointing starts for both Cartier Diarra and Makol Mawien. Getting big games from two out of three is necessary for this team to win games against decent competition, and that hasn't happened often this season.

GAME 12

KANSAS STATE (6-5) vs. TULSA (8-4)

Sunday, December 29, 2019 >> 5:02 p.m. CT >> Bramlage Coliseum (12,528) >> Manhattan, Kan.

STAR WARS DAY / JUNIOR WILDCAT DAY

K-State will celebrate both Star Wars Day and Junior Wildcat Day on Sunday with special Star Wars character appearances as well as a special ticket offer for Junior Wildcat members.

TELEVISION

Big 12 Now on ESPN+

Ben Boyle (play-by-play)Missy Heidrick (analyst)Bridget Howard (sideline reporter)

RADIO

K-State Sports Network

Flagships: // KMAN 1350 & WIBW 580

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

Satellite Radio: XM 375 / Internet 375

Brian Smoller (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: 469-249/22nd season

At K-State: 156-94/8th season

vs. Tulsa: 2-2 (1-1 at home)

Tulsa: Frank Haith (Elon ‘88)

Overall: 290-199/16th season

At Tulsa: 103-70/6th season

vs. Kansas State: 2-2 (1-1 on the road)

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State (6-5)

G: #00 Mike McGuirl

G: #2 Cartier Diarra

G/F: #20 Xavier Sneed

F: #11 Antonio Gordon

F: #14 Makol Mawien

Tulsa (8-4)

G: #3 Elijah Joiner

G: #11 Darien Jackson

F: #0 Brandon Rachal

F: #41 Jeriah Horne

F: #1 Martins Igbanu

SERIES HISTORY

Overall: Tulsa leads 7-1

Current Streak: Tulsa, 3

In Manhattan: K-State leads 2-1

At Bramlage Coliseum: K-State leads 1-0

Last Meeting: L, 46-47 [12/8/18 in Tulsa]

Weber vs. Haith: Haith leads 3-0

OPENING TIP

Kansas State (6-5) concludes the 2019 portion of its schedule with a rare Sunday afternoon game, as the Wildcats play host to Tulsa (8-4) at 5 p.m., CT at Bramlage Coliseum. The contest will wrap up a 3-game series between the Wildcats and Golden Hurricane that began in 2017 at INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita and continued last season in Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane own a 7-1 lead in the all-time series, including victories in the previous 2 meetings, a 61-54 win in Wichita on Dec. 9, 2017 and a 47-46 win at home on Dec. 8, 2018. This will be Tulsa’s first visit to Bramlage Coliseum since K-State’s lone win in the series -- a 75-69 victory -- on Dec. 14, 1989.

Both K-State and Tulsa head into Sunday’s matchup on 2-game losing streaks. The Wildcats suffered narrow defeats to Mississippi State (61-67) in the Never Forget Classic in Newark, N.J., on Dec. 14 and Saint Louis (63-66) in the Wildcat Classic at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., on Dec. 21 before taking an 8-day holiday break. The Golden Hurricane lost at Arkansas (79-98) on Dec. 14 before dropping a high-scoring 111-104 affair to Colorado State at the BOK Center in Tulsa on Dec. 21. This will be the last non-conference game for both teams before opening league play next week.

K-State will look to not only snap a 2-game losing skid on Sunday, but also avoid 3 non-conference home losses for the first time since 2001. The Wildcats saw their 33-game non-conference winning streak end in the 73-65 loss to Marquette on Dec. 7, while the 66-63 loss to Saint Louis snapped a 5-game winning streak in the Wildcat Classic, which is considered a home game since the university controls the tickets and runs the game operations. Despite the losses to Marquette and Saint Louis, which are a combined 20-4 this season, K-State has still been an impressive 110-8 (.932) at home venues in non-conference play since 2006-07, including 101-6 (.944) at Bramlage Coliseum, with wins in 97 of their last 103 non-conference home games.

Head coach Bruce Weber is closing in on his 100th win at Bramlage, boasting a 98-23 (.810) record with just 4 non-conference home losses in his tenure. With K-State’s 3-point field goal percentage consistent in both wins (32.1) and losses (34.7), it has been the Wildcats’ ability to knock down shots inside the arc that has played the biggest difference. The Wildcats are connecting on 46.7 percent (158-of-338) from the field in their wins, including 56.4 percent (115-of-204) of their 2-point field goals, while they are hitting on just 37.6 percent (99-of-263) of their field goals in losses, including 39.4 percent (65-of-165) from inside the arc.With the offense continuing to develop, K-State has had to rely on its defensive foundation. The Wildcats are allowing a Big 12-best 59.6 points on 40.5 percent shooting, including 31.4 percent from 3-point range, while posting a league-best 18.0 turnovers forced and the second-most steals (9.4 spg.). K-State ranks 17th in scoring defense, 18th in turnovers forced, 23rd in steals and 37th in turnover margin. The team is allowing just 52.3 points on 36.4 percent shooting in their 6 wins compared to 68.4 points on 45.5 percent shooting in their 5 losses.

NOTES ON TULSA

Tulsa enters Sunday’s game with 3 losses in its last 4 games, including consecutive setbacks to Arkansas (79-98) and Colorado State (104-111). The Golden Hurricane had won 7 of their first 8 games, including an impressive 67-58 win at Vanderbilt on Nov. 30, before a narrow home 66-63 loss to Arkansas State on Dec. 7 and subsequent losses to Arkansas and CSU. The team’s last win was an impressive one over Boise State (69-56) on Dec. 11.

Tulsa is averaging 74.2 points on 45.6 percent shooting, including 33.2 percent from 3-point range, with 37.5 rebounds, 14.8 assists, 7.9 steals and 2.5 blocks per game, while allowing 68.2 points on 40.8 percent shooting, including 30.4 percent from 3-point range. The team has connected on 71.3 percent from the free throw line.

Tulsa has a balanced offensive team with 8 players averaging at least 6.2 points or better this season, including 4 (Brandon Rachal, Jeriah Horne, Martins Igbanu and Darien Jackson) averaging 9.3 points or better. Rachal paces the squad in scoring (14.9 ppg.), rebounding (7.2 rpg.), steals (1.9 spg.) and blocks (0.8 bpg.), while connecting on 52.5 percent from the field. Horne also averages double figures at 10.8 points to go with a team-best 21 3-point field goals and a stellar 89.5 percent mark from the free throw line. Igbanu and Jackson average 9.8 and 9.3 points per game, while Jackson connects on a team-best 60.6 percent from the field. Junior Elijah Joiner (3.4 apg.) is one of 3 Golden Hurricanes with 29 or more assists. Tulsa returns 6 lettermen, including 2 starters, from a team that posted an 18-14 overall record, including an 8-10 mark in American Athletic play. The team has won at least 18 games 4 times in the last 5 seasons.

Head coach Frank Haith is in his 16th season as a head coach, including his sixth at Tulsa. He has a 290-199 (.593) record in his career, including a 103-70 (.595) mark with the Golden Hurricane. He has been the head coach at Miami (Fla.) (2004-11), Missouri (2011-14) and now Tulsa (2014-present). He previously was an assistant coach for Rick Barnes at Texas (2001-04).

SERIES HISTORY

K-State and Tulsa will meet for the ninth time on Sunday with the Golden Hurricane owning a 7-1 mark in those previous meetings, including 3 in a row dating back to 1990. Tulsa has won the first 2 games of the 3-game series, including a 61-54 win at INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita on Dec. 9, 2017 and a 47-46 win at home on Dec. 8, 2018.Tulsa has a 3-1 mark in road games in the series, which includes that 61-54 win in Wichita in 2017 as well as victories in Manhattan in 1965 (70-63), 1968 (66-63) at Ahearn Field House. This will be the Golden Hurricane’s second visit to Bramlage Coliseum, which was the lone win in the series so far for the Wildcats -- a 75-69 win -- on Dec. 14, 1989.Head coach Bruce Weber is 2-2 all-time against Tulsa, including 1-1 at home, while Tulsa head coach Frank Haith is also 2-2 vs. K-State, including 1-1 on the road. Haith is 3-0 all-time against Weber, including a win at Missouri (2013) and wins the last 2 seasons while at Tulsa.K-State is 39-35 all-time against teams from the American Athletic (AAC), including a 23-7 record in home games. The Wildcats have lost the last 3 meetings with AAC members (Tulsa, Cincinnati) with the last win coming against Tulane (72-41) on Dec. 28, 2013.

K-STATE/TULSA CONNECTIONS

Two Tulsa players (Darien Jackson and Josh Earley) are from Kansas, as Jackson is from Overland Park and played at Blue Valley Northwest, while Earley is from Shawnee Mission and Bishop Miege High School.K-State’s DaJuan Gordon and Elijah Joiner both hail from Chicago and Curie Metropolitan High School. Gordon and Joiner would have crossed paths for head coach Mike Oliver during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.Tulsa director of operations Dave Reiter is a 2001 graduate of K-State, working in the school’s athletics communications office as an undergraduate. He joined head coach Frank Haith’s Tulsa coaching staff in 2015-16.

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