After a rough homestand that saw the Cats go 1-3, your Kansas State Wildcats are back on the road for a Big 12 series against Utah — K-State’s first trip out to Salt Lake City for a baseball game.
Kansas
For Black leaders in Kansas City, MLK Day is a hectic — and empowering — day of service
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Rev. Vernon Howard Jr. always starts work early and ends work late.
“The work really is year-round because of the magnitude of the events that we make an effort to put on,” said Howard, a prominent Black leader in Kansas City who has been involved in local civil rights struggles for more than three decades.
His list of events is long. Like many Black community leaders in Kansas City, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is anything but a day off for Howard. Given the current plight of Kansas City’s Black residents, he said, it’s an obligation to work.
“I serve others on this day because I am the beneficiary of persons who shed blood for my right to be free,” said Howard, pastor of St. Mark’s Church and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City, part of a national organization founded by King, Ralph Abernathy, Bayard Rustin and other civil rights leaders in 1957.
Howard was the keynote speaker for a Kansas City Public Schools luncheon last week in King’s honor. He contributed to radio broadcasts on the SCLC’s airwaves and on Kansas City’s independent community radio station, KKFI. On Monday, he’ll make an appearance at the Northland’s 40th Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, and the SCLC-GKC’s flagship celebration, the MLK Community Forum and Mass Celebration. This year’s theme is “Reparations Now.”
“We have a moral duty in this regard,” he said. “And, as Dr. King said: ‘The time is always right to do what is right.’”
In the lead up to the national birthday commemorations, Howard and his team dedicate between five and 10 hours a week getting ready.
“The quest for racial and social justice is not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” he said, and it continues today.
Howard’s activism and advocacy are aimed at addressing the inequities African Americans and other marginalized people experience in public education, economic divestment, and voting rights — some of the same issues King grappled with in his time.
Lawrence Brooks IV
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KCUR 89.3
High on Howard’s list of priorities for Kansas City is a way to make amends for the city’s role in historic slavery and racial discrimination. But a commission created by City Hall in 2023 has yet to receive the funding it needs to do its work.
“We’re advocating for reparations for Black people,” he said, citing a poverty rate among Black people in Kansas City “that is just absolutely atrocious.”
“Black people are suffering from a lack of economic access and economic development and entrepreneurship, particularly on the east side,” Howard said.
While he urges city leaders to fund the Mayor’s Commission on Reparations, Howard has also been working to engage a diverse set of organizations in his King Day plans.
“In the last couple of weeks there’s been more activity from both a business and a community organizing standpoint,” he said, “because we wed the celebration of Dr. King’s birthday and life with activism and advocacy that Dr. King would be doing, were he here.”
“The legacy he leaves shows us that standing for principles of truth, love, peace, nonviolence, and equal justice for all are worth fighting for, and will prove victorious. They killed the dreamer but they can’t kill the dream,” Howard said.
‘A relearning of what we thought we knew’
Rodney Smith also worries about attacks on public education, freedom of speech and further attempts by lawmakers to make it harder to vote.
“We need to be fighting against any movement that attempts to further marginalize those who’ve been historically marginalized,” said the vice president of Access and Engagement at William Jewell College in Liberty.
Smith also is co-owner of the consulting firm Sophic Solutions, which specializes in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. Smith has worked for years on Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations for William Jewel College and other entities.
“We need to be focused on that,” Smith said. “What we learn in our history books, and what we teach and what we don’t teach. It involves an unlearning, a relearning of what we thought we knew about our country.”
Smith said he has taken part in Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations since it was first observed as a federal holiday, in 1986. Smith was a freshman that year at Morris Brown College, a historically Black university in Atlanta, Georgia.
“As an 18-year-old kid, I got the opportunity to interact with one of the giants of the civil rights movement, Hosea Williams,” a close associate of King’s, he said with a smile. “I remember him as Uncle Hosea.”
Williams led the historic “Bloody Sunday” march on Selma, Alabama, in 1965 with former U.S. Rep. John Lewis.
“I sang in the concert choir in college, so it was very frequent that we would sing at church,” Smith said, “and we got an opportunity to develop a relationship with Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery,” the first vice president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
The modern holiday efforts give emerging Black leaders in Kansas City a similar chance to engage and serve their communities.
22-year-old D’asya Collier-Williams is a multimedia creative director for the AdHoc Group Against Crime, and has been working to relaunch the SCLC-GKC’s youth division, the Mountain Movers. 2024 is her second year planning and working the group’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day events.
“I feel like it’s very empowering and impactful, and I feel like it’s a blessing to have a leader such as MLK, as well as continuing to do the work,” she said. “I love knowing about it and just being more informed about different things that I may have (not) known learning about Black history, especially being a young person.”
Eddy Burrett
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AdHoc Group Against Crime
Collier-Williams’ work with AdHoc sometimes involves interviewing and producing social media videos with the families of murder victims whose cases are unsolved. She says this small deed helps families feel heard, and gives them hope.
“People still want to know that somebody wants to help them, somebody still wants (to solve) their case,” she said. “They also want to know that they’re not fighting alone.”
If Smith’s experiences are any indication, the work of young leaders like Collier-Williams will shape the rest of their lives and careers.
“I think it has a direct correlation,” Smith said. “Most of my own personal research and my doctoral degree, I did a lot of reading and research relative to race and racism in our society.”
“I give a lot of credit to those foundational, formative years,” he said.
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With the offseason quickly ramping up, several Kansas basketball players will have a pivotal decision to make in the coming weeks. Those with remaining collegiate eligibility will have to determine whether they are returning to Lawrence or exploring other opportunities on the open market.
The Jayhawks are no strangers to losing talent to the transfer portal, as five players departed to other schools last year (six if you include Flory Bidunga’s brief stint in the portal).
Although KU has the ability to retool its roster with transfers across the country, there are some guys whom the program would certainly like to retain. But which players will end up leaving the university for more favorable options, and how many will there be?
Flory Bidunga: Declare for NBA Draft
Bidunga took the biggest leap of any player on the roster this offseason, seeing his scoring average nearly triple in addition to winning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. He is one of the most dominant rim protectors in the country and proved that by averaging 2.6 blocks per game.
After spending two years in Lawrence, Bidunga now has another critical decision to make after he nearly left last offseason. There have even been rumors of him transferring to another school, even with the NBA Draft on the radar.
Most mock drafts place him in the early-to-mid second round range, leaving some potential for his stock to rise if he returned to college. However, as an undersized center who likely won’t develop a perimeter game anytime soon, it’s difficult to see where he could improve his draft position.
Going to the NBA feels like the smartest and most logical decision for Bidunga. He would complete his lifelong dream of playing in the pros and could develop at his own pace with a team willing to invest in him.
Bryson Tiller: Stay at Kansas
A redshirt freshman who joined the team late last season, Tiller defied the odds and earned a spot in the starting rotation despite recovering from foot surgery. He was one of Bill Self’s most trusted options and formed a double-big pairing with Bidunga.
His final month or so of the season was quite abysmal, as he saw his averages plummet and his production take a massive hit. However, it is far too early to give up on the Overtime Elite product just yet.
Tiller has a smooth post game and a lot of good attributes to his skill set. Bringing him back should be one of the biggest priorities for the coaching staff this offseason, and if he’s promised a starting spot at power forward next year, it is reasonable to assume he returns.
Elmarko Jackson: Transfer from Kansas
Jackson has endured a rough ride in Lawrence since committing to the Jayhawks as a McDonald’s All-American three years ago. Following an underwhelming freshman season, he missed the entire 2024-25 campaign due to a torn patellar tendon before returning this season, where he didn’t fare much better than two years ago.
Coming out of high school, Jackson was viewed as a player with immense potential. But after three years at the school with virtually no improvement, it might be best for him to spend his final two years of eligibility elsewhere.
Unfortunately, allowing the game-winning basket to St. John’s that ultimately ended the season embodied what his tenure at KU has been like. That might be the last memory fans have of Jackson in the crimson and blue.
Kohl Rosario: Transfer from Kansas
Rosario had high expectations going into the year, starting as a member of the starting five before eventually being phased out of the rotation. The Miami native was touted as a strong 3-point shooter coming into college, but massively struggled from beyond the arc for most of the year, leading to a difficult path to playing time.
Even when Rosario wasn’t hitting his shots, though, he contributed with his athleticism and on the glass as a hustle player. Rosario is absolutely someone the coaching staff should prioritize this offseason. However, it may be best for him to leave the program to look for other opportunities.
He showed flashes throughout the year yet was never trusted heavily by Coach Self. He proved he belonged in the rotation in the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments, where he made an immediate impact when he entered and outplayed other bench options.
Ultimately, Rosario will already be competing with freshman wings Trent Perry and Luke Barnett for playing time next year. If the coaches are not going to give him minutes, there is little reason to believe he will stay another year at KU as such a high-potential player.
Paul Mbiya: Stay at Kansas
After riding the pine for the majority of the regular season, Mbiya showed real promise in the NCAA Tournament, scoring a season-high eight points in the Round of 64 and playing strong minutes in place of Bidunga against St. John’s in the first half as he battled foul trouble.
With his otherworldly wingspan and frame, Mbiya feels like someone who could blossom into a star long-term. Even with his raw offensive game, he has traits that should allow him to improve once he refines his skill set.
Mbiya could technically transfer this offseason without it being a massive surprise, but that stretch at the end of the year may have been enough to earn Coach Self’s trust. At the very least, he could be playing double-digit minutes per game next year as the backup five.
Jamari McDowell: Stay at Kansas
McDowell committed to Kansas as a member of the Class of 2023, making him and Jackson the longest-tenured players on the roster. He has been a steady bench piece who plays sparingly but offers defensive intensity and outside shooting when he enters the game.
Unlike Jackson, McDowell didn’t have the same level of hype coming out of high school and was never viewed as much more than a role player. He is best suited to play short spurts off the bench to provide an offensive spark when needed.
Given his clear love for Kansas, his situation is far different from Jackson’s. McDowell feels like someone who is content with limited minutes and simply wearing a Jayhawk uniform with pride.
The Cats sit at 17-8 on the season and 3-3 in Big 12 play, and after starting the season strong have really struggled since the Sunday game against Houston two weekends ago. Either the bats go wild and they win in a rule-ruled game, or they lose. Not exactly a recipe for confidence moving into the heart of the season.
And a lot of that struggle is on the bullpen and the K-State defense, with the former struggling to throw strikes and avoid giving up easy homeruns, and the latter struggling with staying focused and committing unforced errors at the worst times. But if ever there was a good weekend in conference play to get back on track, it would be this one for K-State. Utah enters today 13-9 and 3-3 in Big 12 play, but currently rank dead last in hitting in conference play despite putting up runs and picking up wins. If K-State can avoid errors and letting bad plays snowball, they will have a good opportunity to sweep this series.
But the Cats have to be more consistent than they’ve shown the past couple weeks.
All games here in Salt Lake City are at the America First Ballpark, a park that opened last spring and is also the home of Triple-A Salt Lake Bees, and will be available on online via KMAN and at KStateSports.com/watch with Matt Walters calling the action there. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+, with a Bill Riley on the broadcast.
James Guyette takes the mound Friday night at 7:000pm CT for his seventh start of the season. The junior righty went into the sixth inning last Friday against Arizona State before getting lifted after recording just one out. He gave up three runs on five hits, one of those over the fence, and five free bases while tossing five strikeouts. Through six games he’s got an ERA of 5.51, the highest of K-State’s weekend starters.
The Cat batters will face junior right-hander Colter McAnelly to open the game. McAnelly finished 2025 as an All-Big 12 First Team selection, and the Wyoming native earned Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors three times as a sophomore. He’s not been quite as productive so far in 2026, sitting at just 2-3 in six starts this season with an ERA of 3.94. But that number is way up after last week, when he gave up six runs on six hits in five innings in what ended up as a 4-13 loss to Cincinnati.
Saturday’s game is set for a 3:00pm CT first-pitch. Lincoln Sheffield moves up a day as Pete Hughes looks to shake things up in his maligned bullpen, also making his seventh start of the season. Last Sunday, the senior lefty pitched a run-ruled complete game, giving up just one run on five hits and two free bases, but tossing six strikeouts enroute to a 12-1 K-State victory, and Sheff’s fifth of the season. He leads K-State starters with a 3.97 ERA that dropped back under 4.00 after his 1.29 effort last Sunday.
Utah will send to the mound Payton Riske to face the Cat batters. The right-handed junior is also making his seventh start of the season, all as the Saturday starter — a role the Las Vegas-native earned last season and has yet to relinquish. Last week he went just three innings against Cincinnati, giving up five runs on six hits — but no walks — in what became a 10-20 loss to the Bearcats.
Sunday’s start time is set for 2:00pm CT, and Tanner Duke will take the bump for the Cats in the swap with Sheffield. Duke was solid in his first two Saturday starts, before struggling against Arizona State last Saturday. The junior righty lasted just three innings, giving up seven runs (five earned) on six hits, including two over the fence, before leaving the game with the Sun Devils up 5-7. But ultimately it didn’t matter as the bullpen was just as giving, with the Cats eventually falling 12-18. After falling to 3.43, Duke’s ERA ballooned back up to 4.88 for the season.
Utah has not named a starter for Sunday’s game, but sophomore Cameron Nielson made the start last Sunday for the Utes in their 13-11 finale win over the Bearcats. Last week, the right-hander was solid through the first two innings before getting lifted after snagging just one out in the third. His final line was two runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks (one of those was intentional), tossing just one strikeout. He’s got a season ERA of 3.86, but has only pitched more than three innings one time in his seven appearances so far this season.
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