LSU Basketball Tigers Travel to Kansas State for Thursday Night Contest

BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team, 2-0 on the young season, hits the road for the first time in 2024-25, traveling Thursday to Manhattan, Kansas to face the Kansas State Wildcats.

The game is set for an 8 p.m. CT tipoff and will be broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network with the Voice of the Tigers Chris Blair and former LSU head coach John Brady. The flagship broadcast on Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge will begin just before tipoff after the conclusion of The Brian Kelly Show which begins at 7 p.m. CT. Listen to all show live at LSUsports.net/live.

The game will be streamed as part of the Big 12’s ESPN+ package with Mark Neely and Jimmy Dykes on the call.

LSU is coming off a rallying 74-61 win over Alabama State on Sunday. The Tigers trailed by six at the half and by 10 with 12 minutes to play before getting its offensive game going. Cam Carter had 21 points to lead LSU with Jordan Sears adding 18 points and five assists. Dji Bailey had 15 points.

“I was really pleased, really pleased with the close, the final 12 minutes on Sunday,” said LSU Coach Matt McMahon, when meeting with the media on Tuesday. “A lot of lessons learned throughout the game, but I really liked the way we finished the game, both offensively and defensively. Now we have this great opportunity to go on the road Thursday against Kansas State.”

The Wildcats are 2-0 as well, winning 89-65 over New Orleans and 77-64 over Cleveland State. In its last game against Cleveland State on Saturday, the Wildcats shot 57.8 percent from the field (26-of-45) and made 10-of-19 three-pointers.

“I think Coach (Jerome) Tang has done a tremendous job through the portal and the construction of the roaster,” said Coach McMahon. “They’re playing really unselfishly on the offensive end of the floor, averaging 20 assists a game. Really a beautiful way to play the game. They are shooting it exceptionally well from three, where we’ve been really strong defending the three through two games. That will certainly be put to the test there. It’s a really talented team and a great opportunity. We are looking forward to the trip to Manhattan.”

LSU is expected to start the same lineup against the Wildcats with Carter, Bailey and Sears at guards and Jalen Reed and Robert Miller III at forwards. Carter, the former Kansas State player, has scored 21 points in each of the first two games. Bailey is averaging 14 points and three assists, while Sears is at 12.5 points and 2.5 assists. Reed had a huge game in LSU’s opener with ULM, scoring a career high 24 points.

Junior Brendan Hausen is one of three Wildcats averaging double figures with a team-leading 19.5 points per game on 60 percent shooting, including 55.6 percent from 3-point range. Senior David N’Guessan is averaging a near double-double (16.5 ppg., 9.0 rpg.), while fellow senior Max Jones is averaging 15 points per game.

This will mark the third consecutive year the teams have played each other. LSU and K-State first met in the finals of the Cayman Islands Classic, with Kansas State winning, 61-59, when a late LSU bucket was disallowed, and then last year the Wildcats won in the Maravich Center, 75-60.

LSU will next be at home on Tuesday, Nov. 19, at 7 p.m. against Charleston Southern.

(Release via LSU Athletics)