Sweet 16 Set: UK to Face Kansas State Thursday Night
The dust has finally settled after a historically chaotic first weekend in the South Region and Kentucky’s Sweet 16 matchup is set.
Fifth-seeded UK (26-10) – which advanced to the Sweet 16 with wins over Davidson and Buffalo – will take on No. 9 seed Kansas State (24-11) at approximately 9:37 p.m. ET on Thursday at Philips Arena in Atlanta. Kansas State made it this far by taking down Creighton in the first round and ending No. 16 seed UMBC’s Cinderella run on Sunday night. The game will be televised on CBS.
UK will arrive in Atlanta as the highest remaining seed after the South Region became the first in NCAA Tournament history without one of the top four seeds to advance to the Sweet 16. The other matchup in the region will pit No. 11 Loyola (Chicago) against No. 7 Nevada, with the winner advancing to face the UK-Kansas State winner on Saturday.
Kentucky and Kansas State last faced off in 2014, when UK won 56-49 to kick off a memorable run to the national championship game. UK has a 9-0 all-time record against Kansas State entering its seventh trip to the Sweet 16 in nine years under John Calipari. Kentucky is 6-0 in Sweet 16 games under Calipari.
Atlanta figures to live up to its “Catlanta” nickname this week, with the Big Blue Nation appearing poised to take over the city. Tickets for the regional semifinal games in Atlanta can be purchased by visiting NCAA.com/MBBTickets. Fans will find complete ticket information for all NCAA sites, including information on NCAA Ticket Exchange, the official secondary marketplace for authentic NCAA Tournament tickets. Student ticket information can be found online at UKStudentTix.com.
