MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas State men's basketball team will play host to longtime rival Nebraska in the Wildcat Classic on Saturday, December 17 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
Tickets will be available for season ticket holders to purchase during the renewal process starting Monday, June 6. Tickets for the general public and K-State students will go on sale later this fall.
Tickets for season ticket holders are priced at $150 for courtside, $40 for lower-level sides, $25 for lower-level corners and $15 for lower-level ends and upper-level sides at the T-Mobile Center.
The game will be the second in a 3-game series between the former conference foes after the Wildcats earned a 67-58 win over the Cornhuskers at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska on December 19, 2021. The schools were supposed to open the series at the T-Mobile Center on December 19, 2020, but it was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The final game is scheduled for Bramlage Coliseum during the 2023-24 season.
The two schools, which have played 220 games through five conferences (Missouri Valley, Big Six, Big Seven, Big Eight and Big 12), have a rivalry that started more than 100 years ago with a 50-14 victory by Nebraska on February 19, 1906. The Wildcats lead the all-time series, 127-93. The 220 meetings represent the fourth-longest series in school history, following Kansas (297), Missouri (237) and Iowa State (235).
The game will mark the 11th Wildcat Classic game at the T-Mobile Center and the first since 2019. Saint Louis snapped K-State's 5-game winning streak in the Classic with a 66-63 victory on December 21, 2019. The Wildcats are 20-20 all-time in the arena, including an 8-2 mark in the Wildcat Classic.
K-State and Nebraska have met in Kansas City 22 times with the Wildcats holding a 19-3 advantage. The schools faced off 16 times in the Big Six/Seven/Eight Holiday Tournament between 1944-77 and then on 6 more occasions in the Big Eight/12 Championship between 1979-2001. K-State has won 9 straight games against Nebraska in the city with the last Cornhusker victory coming in the 1967 Big Eight Holiday Tournament at Municipal Auditorium.
K-State will be led by first-year head coach Jerome Tang, who was hired by the school on March 21 after a 19-year stint in helping build Baylor into a national powerhouse. The Wildcats are expected to return All-Big 12 honorable mention selection Markquis Nowell (12.4 ppg., 5.0 apg.) and junior Ish Massoud (6.8 ppg., 2.8 rpg.) in 2022-23. The team has signed five additional players, including transfers Cam Carter (Mississippi State), Jerrell Colbert (LSU) and Nae'Qwan Tomlin (Chipola College) and incoming freshmen Dorian Finister and Taj Manning.
Nebraska ended the 2021-22 season on a high note with three wins in their last four games – including road wins over nationally ranked Wisconsin and Ohio State – to finish with a 10-22 overall record, including a 4-16 mark in Big Ten play. The Huskers are expected to return several lettermen, including super senior Derrick Walker (9.5 ppg., 6.0 rpg.), under head fourth-year head coach Fred Hoiberg as well as an incoming recruiting class ranked No. 25 nationally by Rivals.