🏀 Jayhawks to Host Wildcats in Dillons Sunflower Showdown Tuesday

LAWRENCE, Kan. – No. 23/22 Kansas (11-6, 5-4) men’s basketball will host Kansas State 5-13, 1-8) in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown Tuesday. Tip off from Allen Fieldhouse will be at 7 p.m., CT and the game will be televised on Big 12 NOW on ESPN+.

Kansas is looking to rebound from an 80-61 loss at Tennessee in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Jan. 30. The Jayhawks are 7-1 in Allen Fieldhouse this season, while Kansas State brings an eight-game losing streak to Lawrence after its 68-61 loss to Texas A&M Jan. 30.

Kansas leads the overall series with Kansas State, 199-94, and has won 11 of the last 12 matchups. Since Feb. 12, 1994, Kansas has won 60 of the last 66 meetings with K-State. This series started in 1907 and Kansas is 91-35 against Kansas State in games played in Lawrence, including a 50-18 record in Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas has won the last 14 meetings with Kansas State in battles in Allen Fieldhouse beginning in 2007.

KANSAS TIP INS

• Kansas leads the Big 12 in blocked shots at 4.3 per game and ranks in the upper half of 10 conference statistical categories.
• Kansas enters the Kansas State contest No. 3 in NET strength of schedule, which is first in the Big 12. The Jayhawks have led NCAA Division I in NET SOS each of the last two seasons and five times under head coach Bill Self (2005, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020).
• Junior Ochai Agbaji is second in the Big 12 in 3-point field goals made per game at 2.6 and is second in 3-point field goal percentage at 38.9%. Agbaji has made 29 threes in his last 10 games.
• Senior Marcus Garrett and junior Ochai Agbaji have been named to national player mid-season watch lists. Garrett is one of 15 on the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, while Agbaji is a Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award top 10 candidate. Garrett was the 2020 Nasmith DPOY.
• Kansas is 99-15 following a loss in the Bill Self era, which started in 2003-04, including 3-2 this season and 3-0 in 2019-20. Incredibly, KU has been even more efficient over the last six-plus seasons, amassing a record of 48-7 after losses. This includes an 8-1 mark in 2018-19.
• With the consecutive weeks being ranked at 230, which is an NCAA record, the Kansas-Kansas State contest will be the 420th-straight game KU will play as a ranked team, a streak which started Feb. 2, 2009.
• Kansas posted a 3.44 grade point average in the fall 2020, which is the highest semester GPA in the Bill Self era that began in 2003-04. The 3.44 GPA surpassed the 3.31 set in spring 2020.
• This season, Kansas men’s basketball will be wearing a patch that reads “UNITED WE STAND” signifying its stance on the recent social injustice in the United States. The patch has gold lettering with the black background being in the shape of the state of Kansas.

UP NEXT

Kansas will hit the road and play at No. 17/18 West Virginia on Saturday, Feb. 6. Tip from WVU Coliseum will be at 1 p.m., CT the game will be televised on CBS. KU leads the overall series with WVU, 15-5, including a 79-65 win earlier this season on Dec. 22, 2020, in Allen Fieldhouse.