Mark Your Calendars: K-State Men’s Basketball

In his place comes Casey Alexander, a former head coach at Belmont who takes his first job at the power four level. Alexander led the Bruins to seven straight 20+ win seasons in the Missouri Valley Conference. Alexander is known for bringing high powered offenses with ok defense, but the biggest positive for Alexander was his ability to assemble great rosters while having the second lowest NIL budget in his conference.

Now that Coach Alexander is in the Little Apple, the Cats are almost an entirely new team. Andrej Kostic is the only Tang recruit to stay in purple, while the rest of the roster is a mix of high school recruits and transfers. So, in reality, not much is different here from every year of Tang’s tenure.

Though Alexander’s squad is a mixed bag, there are some standout names such as Brandon Rechsteiner, a Mountain West honorable mention at Colorado State and the Cat with the highest points per game average out of the new group. But with all of the new changes in Manhattan brings a new conference schedule; here are the games to mark your calendars for in K-State’s 2026-27 conference schedule.

Notable Conference Games

January 2nd – @ Baylor

The matchups between Jerome Tang and his former school have always been the most exciting games in his tenure at K-State. Now, Tang is back with his former school as an assistant head coach playing against his other former school who just fired him in a legal bonfire not even a year after the fact. This will be a must watch game for any fan wanting revenge or any fan just wanting some competitive basketball. Though K-State’s roster is all over the place, Baylor is also a bit of a wild card as they lose pivotal pieces such as Cameron Carr and Dan Skillings Jr. This is a dream grudge match and a perfect way to gauge how the Cats will look to start conference play.

January 5th – Vs Houston

Since joining the Big 12, Houston has been the king of college basketball in the conference, consistently being regarded as the top of the league and making a national championship in their time. K-State under Jerome Tang has looked really bad in every conference matchup against the Cougars, losing by an average margin of 22 points per game in three games against the Cougars. At this point in the Casey Alexander era, K-State is a project and it’s worth it to just see what happens when The Cats host the best of the best. Alexander’s squads at Belmont were consistently top 25 in scoring offense, with the Bruins ranking 22nd last year averaging 83.9 points per game. Meanwhile, the Houston Cougars have been an all-time dominant defensive school in the 2020s as they ranked second last year in scoring defense. It’s a strength vs strength matchup between the two coaches and I bet the score might end up a whole lot closer than most expect.

January 23rd / February 27th – The Sunflower Showdown

You’d have to be a fool not to have this matchup immediately circled on your calendar. Though the Wildcats haven’t been all that competitive in the 21st century, the Sunflower Showdown is the most exciting rivalry in the state. K-State was surprisingly good against KU under Jerome Tang, though the games in Allen Fieldhouse were always pretty rough. HC Bill Self is an all time great head coach for the Jayhawks, but his past couple of rosters have been a step back from the KU many came to know. With freshmen Taylen Kinney and Tyran Stokes entering the fold and transfers like Keanu Dawes coming to Lawrence, the hype is back on the hill as many fans wait for basketball season. But in spite of the talent, I think Coach Self is under the gun to prove that he can properly develop talent in the NIL era. Until he can put together a vintage Self squad, I wouldn’t count out what Casey Alexander could do against the Hawks.

January 30th – Farmageddon in Ames

For the first time since 1921, the Kansas State Wildcats will not host the Iowa State Cyclones in men’s basketball for a whole season. Regardless of how the heart feels about this fact, it does place Coach Alexander at a disadvantage in his first year as HC. Having to play basketball in Ames is no easy task, especially since the arrival of HC TJ Otzelberger. Otzelberger has grown the Cyclones into a Big 12 juggernaut, with multiple long trips into the NCAA Tournament and multiple players receiving all conference honors. But for Otzelberger, this season will be a transition from the Iowa State of old. With star guard Tamin Lipsey and star sharpshooter Milan Momcilovic out of the lineup, ISU will have a different look on the offensive side of the ball. Add on the loss of defensive triple double machine Joshua Jefferson and there really is an overhaul in Ames. For K-State, that’s a chance to steal a win on the road against a team that might not gel the same. For the Clones, that’s a chance to cement the fact that they’re still as strong as they were. No matter how the game plays out, any Farmageddon matchup is must-see TV.