The Kansas State basketball team wraps their two-game trip on the road on Monday with a visit at 8 p.m. to Salt Lake City to face Utah at the Huntsman Center.
The Wildcats (13-12, 7-7 Big 12) won six consecutive games, two of which on the road, before falling flat on Saturday in a defeat of 80-65 against Brigham Young in Provo, Utah. They will try to avoid consecutive losses for the first time since the end of a skipping of six games with a victory over Virginia-Western on January 25.
UTAH (14-11, 6-8) will try to make two in a row against the Sunflower State teams after eliminating Kansas at home on Saturday 74-67. THE Utes Are 13-3 in total and 5-2 in the Big 12 this season at the Huntsman Center.
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K-State and Utah have not gathered since 1983 and never before as Big 12 members. The Wildcats run the series of all time, 2-1.
Here are three things to know, plus a prediction, for the match on Saturday.
In relation: Kansas State basketball vs byu recap: the Wildcats victory sequence ends
In relation: Women’s basketball from the state of Kansas on the right track for home matches to open the NCAA tournament
Kansas State lacks time
The recent sequence of victories of six K-State games pushed the Wildcats into the conversation for an NCAA tournament offer, but a second consecutive defeat could take a hard blow for their chances.
Before falling in Byu, K-State had reached the list of the next four in the most recent projections of ESPN Joe Lunardi. But the Wildcats now have 12 losses, which does not leave much margin for error in the future.
On the other hand, if they exceed Utah, they have a series of matches winning to come, starting with the Arizona State at home on Saturday.
A more in -depth look at UTS Utah
Utah had a first season from top to bottom in the Big 12 after having published a calendar of non-conference of 8-3.
Craig Smith is in his fourth season leading to UTES after spending the three years ago in the state of Utah.
The fifth year goalkeeper, Gabe Madson, leads the team by scoring 15.6 points per game with East Carolina, Ezra Ausar, adds 11.0, but the strength of the Utes is their depth . Nine different players on average between 16 and 29 minutes.
Coleman Hawkins of K-State in the shooting of the shooting
K-State striker Do-IT-IT Coleman Hawkins, a key actor in the recent Wildcats wave, suddenly became frozen in the last two games. After marking two figures in each of the first five victories during the sequence, he only succeeded six points against Arizona and Byu.
Worse, Hawkins was a combined shot of 4 for 20, including 0 out of 7 in the range of 3 points during these games. He had eight rebounds but no assists and four reversals in Byu, and only two rebounds against Arizona.
The Wildcats were at their best when Hawkins and the leader dug McDaniel are on their game.
Prediction: Kansas State 75, Utah 73
K-State was resilient during his hot sequence, but this could be a major intestinal control for the Wildcats, which have a lot on the result. It is imperative that they have a good start, given that they led half-time in each of the six consecutive games they won and were broken from 18 to half-time against Byu.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers the sports of Kansas State University for the Gannett network. It can be reached at granted@gannett.com or on x (formerly twitter) at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball vs utah: scouting report, prediction
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