MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State will host 3-time NCAA champion Villanova on Tuesday, Dec. 5 as part of the fifth edition of the BIG EAST/Big 12 Battle, the two conferences announced on Thursday (April 6).
The game will be broadcast on one of ESPN’s properties at a time to be determined later.
The 11 matchups were jointly determined by the two conferences and will be played on various campuses starting on Thursday, Nov. 30 and running through Tuesday, Dec. 5. The series will increase to 11 games in 2023-24 and 2024-25 due to increased membership for both leagues. The Big 12 will host six games in 2023-24 while the BIG EAST will host six the following season.
This will be just the second meeting between the programs and the first in more than 80 years since Villanova knocked off K-State, 51-34, on Dec. 27, 1940 in Philadelphia.
K-State is 0-3 all-time in the BIG EAST/Big 12 Battle following losses to Marquette in 2019 and 2021 and Butler in 2022. This past season, the Bulldogs posted a 76-64 win over the Wildcats at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Overall, K-State is 24-27 all-time against BIG EAST opponents, including 11-4 at home. The last win against a BIG EAST foe came against Creighton in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament on March 16 in Charlotte.
Led by first-year head coach Kyle Neptune, Villanova posted a 17-17 overall record, including a 10-10 mark in the BIG EAST, and advanced to the NIT in 2022-23. Rocked by injuries early in the season, the Wildcats won 6 of their last 8 regular-season games, including notable victories over NCAA Tournament teams Xavier and Creighton, to earn a bid to the NIT, where they lost at Big South Champion Liberty, 62-57, in the first round.
Neptune replaced the legendary Jay Wright as the Wildcats’ head coach on April 20, 2022, after guiding Fordham to a 16-16 record in his first and only season in 2021-22. Neptune was a Villanova assistant coach from 2013-21, helping the school to 233 victories, 7 BIG EAST regular-season titles, 4 BIG EAST Tournament crowns and NCAA Championships in 2016 and 2018.
Led by Naismith National Coach of the Year Jerome Tang, the Wildcats compiled a 26-10 record in 2022-23, which included a tie for third place in the Big 12 and the school’s 13th trip to the Elite Eight. The 26 wins are the third-most in school history and the most since winning 27 in 2012-13.
The rest of the 2023-24 men’s basketball schedule will be released as it becomes official.
Big 12/BIG EAST Challenge
November 30 – Texas Tech at Butler
November 30 – Creighton at Oklahoma State
December 1 – Iowa State at DePaul
December 1 – Houston at Xavier
December 1 – UConn at Kansas
December 1 – St. John’s at West Virginia
December 2 – TCU at Georgetown
December 5 – Texas at Marquette
December 5 – Providence at Oklahoma
December 5 – Seton Hall at Baylor
December 5 – Villanova at K-State
