Kansas State, Baylor meet in Big 12 quarters

No. 10 seed Kansas State (11-21, 4-15) vs. No. 2 seed Baylor (26-4, 15-3)

Big 12 Conference Tourney Quarterfinals, Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri; Thursday, 6 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: A spot in the Big 12 semifinals is up for grabs as Kansas State matches up against Baylor. Baylor won both of the regular season matchups earlier this season. The teams last went at it on Feb. 25, when the Bears outshot Kansas State 49.1 percent to 44.9 percent and hit six more 3-pointers en route to the 85-66 victory.

SENIOR STUDS: Kansas State’s Cartier Diarra, Xavier Sneed and Makol Mawien have combined to account for 54 percent of the team’s scoring this season, including 70 percent of all Wildcats points over the last five games.DOMINANT DIARRA: Diarra has connected on 30.5 percent of the 167 3-pointers he’s attempted and has made 8 of 28 over his last five games. He’s also made 66.4 percent of his free throws this season.

SLIPPING AT 69: Kansas State is 0-11 when it allows at least 69 points and 11-10 when it holds opponents to less than 69.

ASSIST DISTRIBUTION: The Wildcats have recently used assists to create baskets more often than the Bears. Baylor has an assist on 34 of 75 field goals (45.3 percent) over its past three outings while Kansas State has assists on 34 of 71 field goals (47.9 percent) during its past three games.

DID YOU KNOW: The Baylor defense has allowed only 60.1 points per game to opponents this season, ranking the Bears seventh among Division I teams. The Kansas State offense has averaged 64.2 points through 32 games (ranked 295th, nationally).