Getty Xavier Sneed #20 of the Kansas State Wildcats will face the Monmouth Hawks Wednesday. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images)
The Kansas State Wildcats will kick off their season against the North Dakota State Bison at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kansas Tuesday.
The game (8 p.m. ET start time) won’t be on regular cable TV anywhere, but you can watch it live on ESPN+, the streaming service from ESPN that has exclusive coverage of several Kansas State and Big 12 basketball games this season, tons of other college basketball and live sports every week, all the 30-for-30 documentaries and additional original content (both video and written) all for $4.99 per month.
You can sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch Kansas State vs NDSU live on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the ESPN app.
North Dakota State vs Kansas State Preview
Kansas State is looking to build off a successful 2018-2019 campaign that saw them finish the regular season tied with Texas Tech for the Big 12 regular season title. The Wildcats finished the season with a 25-9 record capped by an appearance in the NCAA tourney. Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber will have a very different-looking team this year than he did last season, and while he doesn’t seem worried about his current team, their relative inexperience is definitely on his mind:
“I think my biggest fear is probably the gut-check kind of games, the close games, you know? Who’s gonna make those plays…we have to have some other people do that [this year],” Weber said, referring to the departures of Barry Brown, Kamau Stokes and Dean Wade.
The Wildcats will see freshmen DaJuan Gordon, Montavious Murphy and Antonio Gordon all make their debuts Tuesday. Seniors Xavier Sneed and Makol Mawien will lead Kansas State, but they will most certainly need help from their supporting cast. Sneed averaged 10.6 points and 5.5 rebounds last year, and he will be looking to increase those totals in his final season with Kansas State.
The Bison are coming off a successful 19-win season that saw them also make an appearance in the NCAA tournament. They have all five starters from last year returning, and expectations for this season are high after last year’s success.
NDSU will be led by senior guard Vinnie Shahid, who averaged 13.1 points, three rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game last season. Shahid is also extremely dangerous beyond the arc, nailing 64 3-pointers last year, which helped him lead the team in scoring. He also led the team in assists, and he will likely be a key factor in how this season shapes up for the Bison.
Shahid will be joined in the lineup by forward Tyson Ward, who averaged 12.4 points and just over six rebounds last year. Jared Samuelson and forward Rocky Kreuser are also both returning starters, and should add a nice layer of depth and experience in the NDSU lineup.
The Wildcats held each of their 14 non-conference opponents to an average of just 59.2 points a game last year, so NDSU will have to bring their A-game if they want to keep this one close. The Bison went 5-9 against non-conference opponents last year, and will be looking to improve upon that record this year.