Sports
Kansas State men's basketball upgrading nonconference schedule – The Topeka Capital-Journal
When Kansas State officially announced last week that it was opening the 2023-24 men’s basketball season in Las Vegas against Southern California, it served as a reminder that the Wildcats’ strength of schedule is taking a leap forward.
The Nov. 6 matchup at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas is one of several Power Five nonconference games on tap for the Wildcats, who have yet to release their full pre-Big 12 schedule.
“I like our schedule right now as it is,” K-State coach Jerome Tang said. “We still have to add a couple of games.
“Opening night in Vegas, who could beat that, right? I think our fans would be excited coming out and seeing that. And it’s being billed as (USC freshman) Bronny James’ first game, so there’s going to be a lot of media buildup to it, and I know our guys are going to be excited to play that game.”
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That is just the beginning. On Nov. 17, K-State will play Providence in the first round of the Baha Mar Hoops Championship in Nassau, Bahamas, and then face either Miami (Fla.) or Georgia two days later. Other marquee games are a Dec. 5 home contest against Villanova at Bramlage Coliseum as part of the Big 12/Big East battle series, a trip to Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Dec. 9 to face LSU, and a Dec. 17 matchup with Nebraska at Bramlage.
The Wildcats also will take on Wichita State on Dec. 21 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
When Tang was hired in March of 2022, he lamented that most of the schedule already was set under predecessor Bruce Weber. The only addition was a road trip to Berkeley to face Cal.
But Tang made a point of not criticizing that schedule in a Thursday news conference.
“I thought our schedule was fine last year,” he said. “I was very thankful for the job that the last staff did in putting it together. The one game we added last year was Cal, and they didn’t turn out to be as strong at the end of the year — the team they were projected to be.”
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That said, Tang is looking to create more of a buzz at Bramlage Coliseum prior to the Big 12 season.
“My goal was to play some high-major teams on the road this upcoming year, so that then we could have them return home games to Bramlage the following year,” Tang said. “Because our fans, in the nonconference, deserve to have really good teams come into Bramlage and be able to experience that type of environment, not just during the Big 12.”
The road trip to LSU, which has not yet been announced, would be a first step toward meeting that goal, with the Tigers set to reciprocate with a visit to Bramlage in 2024.
As Tang and his staff works to complete the Wildcats’ roster for the upcoming season — it currently stands at 11 scholarship players with two more openings — K-State will get an early start in August with a foreign trip to Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
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The Wildcats will be gone from Aug. 10-21 and make stops in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, before finishing up in the UAE capital of Dubai.
“Really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I’m so excited for our guys,” Tang said. “I’m excited for the learning experience we’re going to have in the buildup to the trip, and then the life experience we’re going to gain on the trip.
“We get to play three basketball games while we’re over there and have 10 days of practice before we go, and that’s going to help us with the chemistry and the team-building opportunity, and just the opportunity to see a different part of the world that we’ve read about and heard about. But to actually be there and walk there and experience it, it’s going to be incredible.”
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
