No. 22/24 Kansas State (15-4, 4-3 Big 12) returns to the friendly confines of Bramlage Coliseum on Saturday night, as the Wildcats welcome the Oklahoma Sooners (12-7, 2-5 Big 12) to Manhattan on Legends Weekend. The game will be broadcast on FOX Sports Midwest and FOX Sports Southwest (as well as ESPN Full Court and ESPN3.com) at 6 p.m. CST with Ben Boyle and Stan Weber on the call. The winners of three straight since dropping an 82-73 decision at Oklahoma on Jan. 14, K-State has climbed above .500 in league play for the first time this season and into a tie for fourth place with Iowa State. The Wildcats return home after posting back-to-back road wins in league play for the first time since 2010 in victories at Oklahoma State (66-58) and Texas Tech (69-47). The squad was stellar on the defensive end in those wins, holding the pair to 52.5 points on 36 percent shooting, including 13.8 percent from 3-point range, while averaging 23 points off of 20.5 turnovers per game. It marked the first time since 2008 that the Wildcats have held consecutive Big 12 foes under 60 points. The defensive effort came on the heels of averaging a Big 12-worst 72.6 points through the first five league games. Oklahoma enters Saturday on a two-game losing skid after dropping an 81-75 heartbreaker at Texas A&M in overtime and a 77-65 decision to No. 6/7 Baylor. K-State great and first-year Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger will be making his first visit to Manhattan as a visiting head coach after serving his alma mater, as a player (1971-74), an assistant coach (1977-82) and head coach (1986-90). He has not coached on the Bramlage Coliseum floor since his last game as K-State’s head coach on March 3, 1990. He did return to the arena in 2006 to see his jersey retired.

TELEVISION NOTE

Saturday’s game will be the sixth broadcast available on the entire FOX Sports Midwest footprint, which includes more than 5.9 million cable and satellite homes in the states of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois and Indiana. It will also be available on FOX Sports Southwest. The final game on FSN Midwest will be Tuesday’s game at Iowa State. For fans looking to find the game is in your area, a channel finder for FOX Sports Kansas City/Midwest can be found at www.FOXSportsKansasCity.com.

K-STATE HOSTS BASKETBALL LEGENDS REUNION THIS WEEKEND

K-State will host its annual men’s basketball Legends Reunion this weekend, highlighted by return of all-time great and former head coach Lon Kruger. Reunion festivities kick off on Friday evening with a social event from 5-8 p.m. in the Legends Room of Bramlage Coliseum with current players and coaches. The group will also gather from 4-5:30 p.m. in the Legends Room prior to tipoff of Saturday’s game. A cash bar and hors’d'oeuvres will be available at both events. Legends’ attendees are asked to enter through the Northwest entrance of the arena. Membership to the Legends Club can be purchased for as low as $100 and includes an invitation to the Legends Reunion, two tickets to the game and a newsletter with updates on the current team. Those former lettermen interested in joining should contact Amanda Steffens at (785) 532.6531 or via email at asteffens@kstatesports.com.

THE OPPONENT

Oklahoma enters Saturday’s game with a 12-7 record and 2-5 mark in Big 12 play after losing at home to No. 6/7 Baylor on Tuesday night. The youthful Sooners, who start four juniors and a sophomore, are averaging 72.9 points on 44.1 percent shooting, including 36.5 percent from 3-point range, to go with a 38.6 rebounds, 13.9 assists, 6.8 steals and 3.6 blocks per game. The squad ranks second in the Big 12 in free throw percentage (74.3), rebounding and turnover margin (+2.0). Four players are averaging in double figures led by junior Steven Pledger, who ranks fourth in the Big 12 in scoring at 17.2 points per game on 47.3 percent shooting. Fellow junior Andrew Fitzgerald averages 13.3 points on 49.3 percent shooting. Transfer Romero Osby averages a near double-double with a team-best 8.3 rebounds (No. 3 in Big 12) to go with 12.1 points per game. Junior college transfer Sam Grooms is the squad’s primary ball-handler and ranks fourth in the Big 12 with a team-high 5.5 assists per game.

SERIES

Saturday’s game will be the 195th meeting between K-State and Oklahoma dating back to Jan. 23, 1920 with the Sooners holding a 103-91 (.531) lead in the series. Oklahoma and Kansas are the only conference schools to hold a lead in an all-time series with K-State. The Wildcats are 55-34 (.618) all-time at home in the series, however, the Sooners have split the last 10 meetings in Manhattan and are 7-9 (.438) overall in Bramlage Coliseum. K-State won the last meeting at home, 77-62, on Feb. 19, 2011. Oklahoma holds an 11-6 (.647) edge since the start of Big 12 play in 1997, including a 4-4 (.500) mark in Manhattan. The squads will be playing twice in the regular season for the first time since the final year of the Big Eight in 1995-96. Head coach Frank Martin is 3-2 (.600) against the Sooners, including 1-1 at home, while Lon Kruger is 3-2 (.600) against his alma mater.

WE MEET AGAIN OLD FRIEND

Saturday’s game will reunite K-State with one of its all-time greatest players in first-year Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger. This will be Kruger’s first visit to Manhattan as a visiting head coach, while it will be his first visit to Bramlage Coliseum since his last game as K-State’s head coach -- an 80-57 win over Nebraska on March 3, 1990. The native of Silver Lake, Kan., he was twice named Big Eight Player of the Year (1973 and 1974) during his playing career (1971-74) as a Wildcat, helping the school to a pair of Elite Eight appearances and two conference regular season titles. He is one of 10 players to have his jersey retired to the rafters of Bramlage Coliseum. Kruger also served as an assistant coach for all-time wins leader Jack Hartman from 1977-82 before serving as head coach from 1986-90, where he became the first and only head coach to lead K-State to four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. His coaching staff also includes two K-State graduates, including assistant and all-time assists leader Steve Henson (1986-90) and director of operations Mike Shepherd. This will be Kruger’s sixth meeting with his alma mater with the others coming at UTPA (0-1, 1984), Illinois (1-0, 1999), UNLV (1-1, 2009, 2010) and now Oklahoma (1-0, 2012)

LAST TIME OUT: 22/24 KANSAS STATE 69, TEXAS TECH 47

Kansas State ran its winning streak to three in a row on Wednesday night, as the Wildcats recovered from a slow start to post a 69-47 victory over Texas Tech at the United Spirit Arena. The victory was the fifth in the last six meetings with the Red Raiders, including just its second in Lubbock in the Big 12 era. The squad connected on 48.1 percent from the field, including 54.5 percent in the second half, and converted an opponent-high 25 turnovers (including a season-best 12 steals) into a season-high 27 points off of turnovers. It marked the 10th time this season that the Wildcats have tallied 20 or more points off of turnovers, including the fifth time in the last six games. The team also tallied at least 30 points (38) in the paint for the 16th time in 19 games and held a 35-25 edge in rebounding. Texas Tech scored just 47 points on 37.5 percent shooting, marking the eighth time that a foe has been held under 60 points this season. On a night when the starters combined for 31 points on just 38 percent shooting (11-of-29), the bench tallied 38 points on 60 percent shooting (15-of-25) led by junior Martavious Irving’s career-best 16 points. Reserves Victor Ojeleye and Adrian Diaz added eight and six points, respectively, while junior Rodney McGruder tallied double figures for the ninth consecutive game with 13 points to go with a team-tying six rebounds and team-best three steals.

ANOTHER SLOW START

K-State has managed to climb above .500 (4-3) in Big 12 play after dropping three of its first four league games. The 1-3 start marked the third time in the past four years that the Wildcats have struggled out of the gate, which includes a 1-4 record in 2008-09 and 1-4 mark in 2010-11. However, the team managed to rally in those previous two occasions to earn one of the four byes at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship with the 2008-09 team winning six in a row after a 0-4 start and the 2010-11 team winning eight of its last nine after a 1-4 start to league play. K-State and Kansas are the only conference schools to earn a bye to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship each of the past four seasons. However, the format for the championship changes in 2011-12 with the top-6 seed all getting byes to the quarterfinals with seeds 8 and 9 and 7 and 10 playing each other in the first round.