College Basketball

2 Keys To Kansas State Wildcats Winning Sunflower Showdown

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:46 p.m. ET

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The Kansas State Wildcat basketball team is off to their best start since 2009-10 season. They face their most difficult test of the season on Tuesday night.

We all know how difficult it is for any visiting team to win in Allen Fieldhouse.

Coaches know that the only way another team, other than the Jayhawks, is going to win the Big 12 title is to win a game in Lawrence.

Bruce Weber’s Wildcats can win in Allen Fieldhouse if they do two things.

First, D.J. Johnson has to be very active from the opening tip.

He has to take the game to Landon Lucas in an effort to get the Jayhawk redshirt senior in foul trouble. Lucas is off to a slow start, despite his 15 point, 17-rebound performance against TCU on Friday. Get Lucas in foul trouble and the Kansas could struggle.

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The Wildcats also need to get points from Xavier Sneed. The freshman was averaging 10 points a game coming into Big 12 play. He was nowhere to be found against Texas. He had one steal, 3 turnovers and no points against the Longhorns.

The Wildcats’ clutch free throw shooting on Friday masked their subpar offensive performance against Texas.

They connected on a season-low 36.2 percent (17-of-47) from the field, including 25 percent (5-of-20) from 3-point range. The team did not make a field goal in the final 4:34, missing their final four shots.