Kansas State @ Baylor preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 3, 2018 ) Baylor 67, Kansas State 77

A battle for the top spot in the Big 12 Conference standings is on tap Saturday when Kansas State visits Baylor. The Wildcats, winners of two straight contests including a 74-67 victory over No. 14 Kansas on Tuesday, sit atop the standings with a 7-2 mark, while the Bears - coming off an 84-72 loss at Texas on Wednesday - are one game behind.

Kansas State has been winning with defense, holding teams to 59.1 points while scoring 65.5, lowest in the Big 12. Senior guard Barry Brown Jr. (15.5 points) paces the offensive attack for coach Bruce Weber, while 6-10 senior forward Dean Wade (14.1 points, 6.8 rebounds) could cause some problems for a Baylor starting five that doesn't have a player taller than 6-7. Leading the charge for the Bears is senior guard Makai Mason (16.1 points), though Mason was limited to 23 minutes and five points in the loss to Texas because of a toe injury suffered in practice, so his availability for this contest may be limited. The season-ending loss of forward Tristan Clark - the team's second-leading scorer - eight games ago pushed coach Scott Drew to go with a three-guard lineup, which has jump-started the Baylor offense as the Bears have averaged 76.4 points and shot 41 percent from 3-point range since Clark was ruled out.

TV: 6 p.m. ET, ESPN2

ABOUT KANSAS STATE (17-5, 7-2 Big 12): Many around the Kansas State program point to junior center Makol Mawien (6.3 points, 4.2 rebounds) as the team's most underrated player for the unsung dirty work he does that goes unnoticed. But Mawien has been noticed recently because of his struggles as he has scored two points over the last three contests and has had to deal with foul trouble quite often. Mawien has been showing more focus lately according to the team and the hope is he's ready to break out of his slump, though playing against a smaller Baylor lineup may force Weber to put him on the bench rather than deal with a defensive mismatch.

ABOUT BAYLOR (15-7, 6-3): The Bears' offensive uptick can certainly be attributed to the better and more frequent shooting from 3-point range, though swingman Mario Kegler can take some credit as well, as he's averaging 12.4 points over the past five contests. Kegler seems to be getting comfortable at Baylor finally after he sat out a season following his transfer from Mississippi State and missing the first six contests this season. Kegler is shooting 55.8 percent over the past five contests after shooting 39.2 percent prior to that point and has scored in double figures in four of the last five games, giving Drew the kind of production he'd been anticipating.

TIP-INS

1. Kansas State ranks ninth in the Big 12 in 3-pointers per game and 3-point percentage but has hit 26 over the last two contests, the most for the Wildcats over a two-game stretch since March 1994.

2. Baylor G/F Mark Vital was the nation's only player with more offensive rebounds than defensive (79-78) among those with at least 140 total entering Friday.

3. The Wildcats have a seven-game winning streak in conference play for the first time since they won seven in a row in February 2010.

PREDICTION: Baylor 72, Kansas State 65