This Week Today: Nov. 9th – Nov. 15th

K-State women’s basketball is off to a pretty nice start, going 3-0 in their first week of the 2026-27 season. Through three games, four Cats are averaging double digits with junior center Tzoana Tampakou leading the team in points per game and field goal percentage.

Tampakou had a slow start against Wichita State, going 2-7 from the field and ending the game with four points. From that point, the Greece native has gone 13-14 from the field, putting up 31 combined points in two games. Tampakou has quickly developed into a security blanket for this Cats offense to rely on when the shooting becomes a liability.

On that note, the shooting has been the biggest problem with this Cats team to start the season. Kansas State is shooting 29% from three as a team, with only Taryn Sides and Gina Garcia shooting over 30% from the arc. Though Sides had shot the best from three overall, that is not much of a flex through three games. Sides is the only guard averaging more than five points per game, but that does not mean she’s played more efficiently than the rest of the guard room.

As the Cats host the Montana Grizzlies tomorrow morning, the shooting concerns become a major point of emphasis. After tomorrow, K-State begins a stretch of five straight power conference opponents, starting with a ranked Minnesota in a neutral site game. This KSU team looks to have talent in the right places with the impressive performances from Shaila Nde and Tzoana Tampakou, but guards such as Tea Cleante and Taryn Sides need to warm up quickly before the going gets tougher.

Men’s Basketball:

Tuesday, Nov. 10th vs Creighton – 8 p.m. – FS1

K-State men’s basketball is preparing for their first power four opponent of the season as they host the Creighton Blue Jays tomorrow night at eight p.m. the beginning of the Casey Alexander era wasn’t the hottest of starts, as the Cats came out in their first game and laid an egg against South Dakota State, a team K-State had never lost to in school history. Against the Jackrabbits, there wasn’t really a lot to get excited about as the Cats went 8-28 from three and struggled to guard a Summit League team. But against CSUN on Friday, it felt like a switch flipped.

For starters, the Wildcats shot 41 threes, sinking 17 of them. That may not sound like the greatest of clips, but it felt like they were getting to their spots and not forcing things. Casey’s Cats were also able to drop 57 points in the first half alone, in large part due to Brandon Rechsteiner having 19 points and going 5-9 from three.

The 95-78 finish against CSUN was nice, but there were still plenty of things to clean up if K-State wants to make it to 2-1. K-State’s first half was electric, but they shot 32% from three while having 10 turnovers and 12 fouls in the second half alone. Brandon Rechsteiner cooled off in the second half and the offense came to a screeching halt, giving CSUN a chance to make the game closer than it could’ve been. K-State got outrebounded because of the second half effort and it felt like the team let their foot off the gas. The potential is absolutely there for Casey’s Cats, but they’ve only really shown it in one half. Creighton will give K-State a nice chance to build confidence and grow as a team, but they will need to shoot the three at a 40% clip if they want that growth to produce wins.

Volleyball:

Friday, Nov. 13th vs TCU – 6:30 p.m. – ESPN+

Kansas State volleyball has a slower week than usual, hosting a rematch against the TCU Horned Frogs this Friday after playing them just a couple of weeks ago. The Cats sit at 11-10 on the season, going 2-3 in their last five games. In that five game stretch, all three losses came against ranked opponents in KU, TCU and Baylor. 

Now, as Coach Mansfield’s group prepares to host a rematch with the Frogs, the Cats are still dancing around a .500 record after splitting their two games last week. After TCU, Arizona State will be the only ranked matchup K-State has left on their schedule, so a chance to finish the season on a high is still in play. But with their conference play struggles through October, the Cats are most likely out of postseason contention.

With that being said, there’s still a lot of exciting things in this young team that could turn into a tournament squad this time next year. Addison Massey and Skylar Brady have still played great, Emmerson Van Lannen has been really solid and it feels like the Cats get a little better every game. Even if it isn’t this year, the investment for a great squad could pay off soon for KSU volleyball.

Football:

Saturday, Nov. 14th vs TCU – 1 p.m. – ESPNU

If K-State volleyball gets a little better every week, it feels like K-State football has gotten a little worse every week. After one of the worst losses in the last decade to Oklahoma State, the morale around Manhattan has dropped as the Cats still haven’t reached bowl eligibility and the possibility of making that milestone continuously slips out of reach. 

The quarterback carousel continues to be a glaring issue as K-State started their fourth quarterback in four weeks and subsequently benched their second quarterback in two weeks. It was clear that no Avery Johnson would most certainly be an issue, but Coach Klein has struggled to find a replacement that can do half of the things that Johnson can do and the offense has become a mess in response.

Looking forward to next week, K-State’s newest opponent, TCU, is not much different than themselves; both teams are purple, 4-5, winless against ranked teams and at their best when they play at home. The difference between the two is that TCU has a much stronger defense, sitting at 12th in the nation in scoring defense. Both teams have offensive issues, but TCU has been able to keep games close and low scoring while K-State is forced to adapt to whatever style of play their opponent is playing. If the Cats want to play postseason football, they will need to steal this one from the Frogs. But the Cats will have to win on the road, something they haven’t been able to do yet under first-year Head Coach Collin Klein.