1986–87 Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball team

1986–87 Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball
1986–87 Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball
NCAA tournament, second round
Conference	Big Eight Conference
Record	20–11 (8–6 Big Eight)
Head coach	Lon Kruger (1st season);
Assistant coaches	Dana Altman (1st season); Greg Grensing;
Home arena	Ahearn Field House
	Seasons ← 1985–86 1987–88 →

1986–87 Big Eight Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 14 Missouri †	11	–	3	.786	24	–	10	.706
No. 20 Kansas	9	–	5	.643	25	–	11	.694
Oklahoma	9	–	5	.643	24	–	10	.706
Kansas State	8	–	6	.571	20	–	11	.645
Nebraska	7	–	7	.500	21	–	12	.636
Iowa State	5	–	9	.357	13	–	15	.464
Oklahoma State	4	–	10	.286	8	–	20	.286
Colorado	3	–	11	.214	9	–	19	.321

† 1987 Big Eight tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 1986–87 Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball team represented Kansas State University as a member of the Big 8 Conference during the 1986-87 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The head coach was Lon Kruger who was in his first of four years at the helm of his alma mater. The team played its home games in Ahearn Field House in Manhattan, Kansas. The Wildcats finished 4th in the Big 8 regular season standings and fell to conference champion Missouri in the semifinal round of the Big 8 Tournament. K-State received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as No. 9 seed in the West region. After an opening round win over Georgia in overtime,^[1] the Wildcats were beaten by eventual Final Four participant and No. 1 ranked UNLV in the round of 32.^[2]

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	11	Lynn Smith	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Sr	Memphis, Tennessee
G	12	Steve Henson	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Fr	McPherson, Kansas
G	23	Mitch Richmond	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Head coach

Lon Kruger (Kansas State)

Assistant coach(es)

Dana Altman (Eastern New Mexico)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Nov 29, 1986*		South Dakota	W 95–45	1–0	Ahearn Field House Manhattan, Kansas
Dec 1, 1986*		Grand Canyon	W 93–57	2–0	Ahearn Field House Manhattan, Kansas
Dec 4, 1986*		at Texas Tech	W 73–72	3–0	Lubbock Municipal Coliseum Lubbock, Texas
Dec 6, 1986*		Texas State	W 98–83	4–0	Ahearn Field House Manhattan, Kansas
Dec 9, 1986*		Creighton	W 81–64	5–0	Ahearn Field House Manhattan, Kansas
Dec 11, 1986*		Abilene Christian	W 90–67	6–0	Ahearn Field House Manhattan, Kansas
Dec 13, 1986*		at Wichita State	L 60–63	6–1	Levitt Arena Wichita, Kansas
Dec 19, 1986*		vs. Illinois State Music City Invitational	W 87–86	7–1	Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, Tennessee
Dec 20, 1986*		at Vanderbilt Music City Invitational	L 72–79	7–2	Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, Tennessee
Dec 23, 1986*		at Northern Illinois	W 81–79	8–2	Rockford MetroCentre Rockford, Illinois
Dec 27, 1986*		vs. No. 4 North Carolina	L 62–81	8–3	Kemper Arena Kansas City, Missouri
Jan 7, 1987*		at Marquette	W 85–84	9–3	MECCA Arena Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Jan 10, 1987		Nebraska	W 114–82	10–3 (1–0)	Ahearn Field House Manhattan, Kansas
Jan 12, 1987*		Wichita State	W 79–67	11–3	Ahearn Field House Manhattan, Kansas
Jan 17, 1987		Iowa State	W 68–65	12–3 (2–0)	Ahearn Field House Manhattan, Kansas
Jan 21, 1987		at Colorado	W 92–61	13–3 (3–0)	Coors Events Center Boulder, Colorado
Jan 24, 1987		No. 11 Oklahoma	L 78–81	13–4 (3–1)	Ahearn Field House Manhattan, Kansas
Jan 28, 1987		at Oklahoma State	W 88–77	14–4 (4–1)	Gallagher-Iba Arena Stillwater, Oklahoma
Feb 1, 1987		at Missouri	L 64–68	14–5 (4–2)	Hearnes Center Columbia, Missouri
Feb 4, 1987		No. 18 Kansas	L 75–80 ^{2OT^[3]}	14–6 (4–3)	Ahearn Field House Columbia, Missouri
Feb 7, 1987		at Iowa State	W 87–75	15–6 (5–3)	Hilton Coliseum Ames, Iowa
Feb 11, 1987		at Colorado	W 74–56	16–6 (6–3)	Coors Events Center Boulder, Colorado
Feb 14, 1987		at Nebraska	L 76–78	16–7 (6–4)	Bob Devaney Sports Center Lincoln, Nebraska
Feb 17, 1987		Oklahoma State	W 81–60	17–7 (7–4)	Ahearn Field House Columbia, Missouri
Feb 19, 1987		at No. 15 Kansas	L 67–84	17–8 (7–5)	Allen Fieldhouse Lawrence, Kansas
Feb 25, 1987		Missouri	L 75–80	17–9 (7–6)	Ahearn Field House Columbia, Missouri
Feb 27, 1987		at No. 12 Oklahoma	W 90–89	18–9 (8–6)	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, Oklahoma
Big 8 Tournament
Mar 6, 1987*		vs. Nebraska Quarterfinals	W 47–45	19–9	Kemper Arena Kansas City, Missouri
Mar 7, 1987*		vs. No. 19 Missouri Semifinals	L 69–72^[4]	19–10	Kemper Arena Kansas City, Missouri
NCAA Tournament
Mar 12, 1987*	(9 W)	vs. (8 W) Georgia First round	W 82–79 ^OT	20–10	Jon M. Huntsman Center Salt Lake City, Utah
Mar 14, 1987*	(9 W)	vs. (1 W) No. 1 UNLV Second round	L 61–80	20–11	Jon M. Huntsman Center Salt Lake City, Utah
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Source^[5]^[6]

Rankings

^[7]

References

^ "Kansas State Wins Overtime Shootout with Georgia in West Regional, 82-79". The Los Angeles Times. March 13, 1987. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
^ "Runnin' Rebels Win With Tough Defense". The Los Angeles Times. March 15, 1987. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
^ "College Basketball Roundup". UPI Archives. February 5, 1987. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
^ "Missouri, Kansas Advance; Tigers Rattle K-State, 72-69". The Oklahoman. March 8, 1987. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
^ "1986-87 Kansas State Wildcats Schedule and Results". CBBRef. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
^ "2020-21 K-State Media Guide" (PDF). K-State Basketball. K-State Athletics. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
^ *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 943–944. ISBN 0-345-51392-4.

[1] "Kansas State Wins Overtime Shootout with Georgia in West Regional, 82-79". The Los Angeles Times. March 13, 1987. Retrieved February 4, 2022.

[2] "Runnin' Rebels Win With Tough Defense". The Los Angeles Times. March 15, 1987. Retrieved February 4, 2022.

[3] "College Basketball Roundup". UPI Archives. February 5, 1987. Retrieved February 4, 2022.

[4] "Missouri, Kansas Advance; Tigers Rattle K-State, 72-69". The Oklahoman. March 8, 1987. Retrieved February 4, 2022.

[5] "1986-87 Kansas State Wildcats Schedule and Results". CBBRef. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 4, 2022.

[6] "2020-21 K-State Media Guide" (PDF). K-State Basketball. K-State Athletics. Retrieved February 4, 2022.

[ESPN-7] *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 943–944. ISBN 0-345-51392-4.

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[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

v t e Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball
Venues	Manhattan YMCA (1902–1911) Nichols Hall (1911–1950) Ahearn Field House (1950–1988) Bramlage Coliseum (1988–present)
Rivalries	Kansas
Culture & lore	Willie the Wildcat "Kansas Wildcats" "Wabash Cannonball" Wildcat Victory The Pride of Wildcat Land
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics