Teams coming off wins at home square off on Saturday in Manhattan, Kan., when No. 24 TCU (14-4, 2-4 in the Big 12 Conference) takes on Kansas State (13-5, 3-3).
The Horned Frogs ended a three-game skid with a convincing 96-73 win over Iowa State on Wednesday night, while the Wildcats knocked off No. 4 Oklahoma 87-69 on Tuesday. It's the eighth straight season that K-State has defeated a top-10 team.
TCU's three straight losses included two games that went into overtime, plus a four-point loss to Kansas. All four of their losses have come by five points or fewer.
The Frogs were dealt a blow when starting point guard Jaylen Fisher went down because of a knee injury in practice before the Iowa State game. He had surgery Thursday on his right knee and is listed as out indefinitely.
In his absence, Alex Robinson started at point guard for the Horned Frogs. He set a team record with 17 assists and had only one turnover in 38 minutes.
"I'm really excited for Alex," TCU head coach Jamie Dixon said after the Iowa State game. "(He had) 17 assists and just one turnover. The team had 29 assists and just four turnovers. I thought we were patient. I hate to say that when we scored 96 (points), but I thought the patience was the key.
"(Jaylen) was disappointed with the injury. He knew what it was right away. I talked with him on the phone right before the game. I called him to make him feel good, and he made me feel good. It's just the positive energy that he has. We all feel bad for him, but we all have a job to do."
Kansas State also is missing its starting point guard, as Kamau Stokes has missed the last three games because of a foot injury suffered at Texas Tech. He was averaging 13.4 points and 4.6 assists before the injury. He also is listed as out indefinitely.
In his absence, Barry Brown has stepped up to lead the Wildcats. In the first game after Stokes went down, Brown scored a career high-and season-high for the Kansas with 38 points against Oklahoma State. He's averaging 24.7 points in the three games without Stokes.
The Wildcats led almost wire-to-wire against Oklahoma. They stretched an early lead to 34-16 before the Sooners came back to take a 33-32 lead right before the half. But the Wildcats reeled off six straight points to pull away. The Wildcats lead by as many as 18 points in each half.
"We have come a long way," Weber said. "Makol (Mawien) and the big guys set really good ball screens. Xavier (Sneed) was solid. Cartier (Diarra) got going in the second half.
"A couple weeks ago he was playing 10 to 12 minutes a game. Now we are throwing him in there for 35 minutes and he goes 6-of-8 with 16 points and five assists. They have really come together. I thought tonight was our best effort defensively."
The key for K-State was holding the nation's leading scorer, Trae Young, who came in averaging just over 30 points per game, to 20 points on 8-of-21 shooting, including 2-of-10 from beyond the arc.
"We were just trying to stay on him (when) he comes off ball screens," Brown said. "He needs one inch and he can shoot it. Credit to the big men for playing the ball screens. It was easy when our big man would force him to get the ball out of his hands."
TCU is 46-20 all-time as a ranked team. K-State is 35-57 all-time against Top 25 teams at Bramlage Coliseum. The Wildcats are 32-54 against ranked Big 12 teams (since 1997), including 20-17 since 2008.
