WASHINGTON – George Washington men’s basketball hosts Kansas State at the Charles E. Smith Center on Saturday for its annual BUFF OUT game presented by RCN. The contest will tip-off at 2:30 p.m. and will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network.
The Big 12 Conference’s Wildcats mark the first power conference team to visit the Smith Center since Oregon State (Pac 12) and Providence (Big East) in November and December 2009, respectively. K-State is the first Big 12 foe to travel to Foggy Bottom since GW opened the 2000-01 season with a 94-74 win over Texas A&M, now a member of the Southeastern Conference.
Saturday’s meeting will be the third all-time in the series, but the first between the programs inside the district in nearly 72 years. Homestanding GW defeated K-State, 43-25, on Dec. 28, 1940, only to have the Wildcats draw even with a 69-56 triumph in Manhattan, Kan., on Dec. 1, 2011 last season. In last year’s meeting, GW trailed 39-37 with 16:11 left, but surrendered a 15-1 run midway through the second half in a loss at Bramlage Coliseum. GW trailed by just three, 32-29, after a first half that featured eight lead changes and four ties, and remained within a possession of the lead for more than four minutes into the second half before K-State pulled away.
GW senior guard Bryan Bynes teamed with K-State senior guard Martavious Irving in the backcourt at Boyd Anderson High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The two have known each other since the age of five. In last year’s match-up in Kansas, Bynes tallied nine points, while Irving finished with five points on 1-of-5 FGs.
GW saw a two-game win streak snapped in a 72-68 loss at Bradley on Tuesday night. Freshman Patricio Garino sparked a late rally with 18 of his career-high 24 points in the second half, but GW couldn’t overcome a 19-point second-half deficit. Included in Garino’s 18 second-half points was a stretch of 11 consecutive points that turned a 66-54 deficit with 3:31 remaining to 70-65 with 42 seconds left. GW couldn’t get any closer than four in the final moments, gassed from clawing its way back from a 19-point deficit early in the second half while playing in its fourth game in eight days. Senior forward Isaiah Armwood provided his third double-double of the season with 12 points and game-high 12 rebounds.
Garino’s 24 points on Tuesday were the most for a GW freshman since then rookie Lasan Kromah torched Richmond for 25 points during a near upset of No. 25 Richmond on Feb. 20, 2010.
Kansas State will play its first true road game of the season and just its second game in 15 days on Saturday after starting with five victories at home in Manhattan and a 1-1 neutral site record. The Wildcats, who opened with five straight wins, dropped their first game on Nov. 23 against then No. 4 Michigan, 71-57, at the NIT Season Tip-Off Championship at Madison Square Garden. KSU rebounded from that defeat with a 72-53 victory over USC Upstate at Bramlage Coliseum on Dec. 2.
K-State is in its first season under head coach Bruce Weber, who was hired on March 31, 2012 after former head coach Frank Martin departed for South Carolina. Weber served previous head coaching stints at Southern Illinois (1998-2003) and Illinois (2003-11), including leading the Fighting Illini to the 2005 national championship game.
The Wildcats returned 10 of their top 11 scorers and 12 of 14 lettermen from a 2011-12 squad that finished 22-11 overall and reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament. Among those returning is district native and second team All-Big 12 selection Rodney McGruder, who led K-State in scoring at 15.8 points per game despite tallying just seven points against GW last season.
McGruder is the lone double-figure scorer for a well-balanced and deep K-State squad at 12.6 points per game. Coach Weber has 11 players who average at least 13 minutes per game and more than three points per game.
GW enters Saturday’s game with a 35-74 all-time record against current Big 12 Conference teams, 2-14 when excluding former Southern Conference and Atlantic 10 rival West Virginia. (Baylor – 0-1; Kansas – 0-3; Kansas State – 1-1; Oklahoma – 1-2; Oklahoma State – 0-2; Texas – 0-2; TCU – 0-1; Texas Tech – 0-2; West Virginia – 33-60).
Coach Mike Lonergan is 0-2 all-time against the current Big 12 Conference, with both defeats coming at the hands of Kansas State. He took Vermont, his former team, to K-State for the Postseason NIT in 2007, where the Wildcats narrowly escaped the visiting Catamounts, 59-57. Lonergan posted an 84-59 victory against then Big 12 member Colorado prior to its move to the Pac 12 while head coach at Vermont in 2008.
GW will play its ninth game in 24 days, appear on television for the fourth time in five games, and face its third power conference opponent so far this season when it visits Rutgers on Tuesday, Dec. 11. The game will be regionally televised on SNY and be picked up for online distribution on ESPN3 and WatchESPN. GW Athletics and GW Alumni will host an Alumni Reception at the Rutgers Zone at 6:30 p.m., ahead of the 7:30 p.m. tip-off at the RAC.
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