The team, which is off to their best start since 2004-05, is in the midst of their longest winning streak (seven) under third-year head coach Frank Martin and their longest streak since also winning seven in a row from Jan. 13 to Feb. 3, 2007. K-State has also won 20 consecutive non-conference home games dating back to 2007-08 as well as 19 straight home games in the December. The Wildcats earned their first national ranking since the 2007-08 season last Monday, as they joined the AP poll at No. 17 and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ poll at No. 22. It is the first ranking since the team appeared at No. 24 in the AP poll on Feb. 19, 2009 and the highest ranking in the AP poll since the team was 14th on Feb. 9, 1988. Monday’s game will be the last before an eight-day break for the holidays and begins a stretch of home games with Cleveland State (4-8) on Dec. 29 and South Dakota (6-4) on Jan. 3 to conclude non-conference play. The contest will be broadcast regionally on FOX Sports Kansas City with Ben Boyle (play-by-play) and Stan Weber (analyst) on the call. It will also be available on the ESPN Full Court plan as well as on ESPN360.com.

The Wildcats concluded one of their most difficult four-game non-conference stretches a perfect 4-0 with an 87-74 victory over Alabama on Saturday night at the Coors Classic in Mobile, Ala. The team built as much as 21-point lead before holding off a late Crimson Tide run to knock off their first SEC foe since 1994. The squad connected on a season-best 59.2 percent from the field, including 61.9 percent in the second half, while holding a decisive 38-23 edge on the glass. The stretch started with home games against Washington State and Xavier on Dec. 5 and 8 and continued with a road game at then unbeaten and No. 17 UNLV on Dec. 12 before concluding against Alabama. The squad, whose 14 non-conference opponents boast a .640 winning percentage through Dec. 17, currently have the country’s best RPI (according to three services) and the consensus second-best strength of schedule.

Junior Jacob Pullen continued his stellar play against Alabama with his second career 30-point outing (just two short of his career-high 32 against Illinois State on March 18, 2009) on 10-of-15 shooting, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range, to go with four assists and three steals. Pullen became the 21st player in school history and just the eighth guard to top 1,000 career points with his fourth 3-pointer of the first half. He has scored at least 20 points in six of the last seven games, and at 20.2 points per game is second in the Big 12 scoring behind Oklahoma State’s James Anderson (21.2 ppg.). Freshman Wally Judge was also impressive against the Tide with a season-high 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting to go with a team-tying seven rebounds, while super sub Jamar Samuels was again solid with 12 points and three assists. Senior Denis Clemente added 11 points and four assists in 30 minutes of action.