The Kansas State Wildcats’ brief winning streak to begin the season was snapped by the LSU Tigers Thursday night, 76-65.

The Wildcats played against a familiar face, guard Cam Carter. Carter spent the previous two seasons in Manhattan, but silenced the Wildcats with 20 points on 50 percent shooting from three-point range.

The Tigers jumped out to a 39-26 lead midway through the first half, which included a hellacious effort from guard Jordan Sears. In a three-minute span, Sears accounted for two free-throws, a steal, and two assists.

The Wildcats played from behind for much of the game, giving up a 19-18 lead at the 10:09 mark of the half and trailed by as many as 17 at the 2:05 mark before halftime.

While the Wildcats played a slower pace in the second half, they could only cut the deficit to nine before LSU regained a consistent cushion. The Wildcats had two players carry the offense. Guard David N’Guessan and Dug McDaniel, who combined for 32 points. Forward Coleman Hawkins was held to eight points while guard Max Jones was held to two points, finishing scoreless from the field.

The Wildcats’ woes were shown brightest in two areas, as they were out-rebounded 41-22 and finished just 23.8 percent from three-point range.

Kansas State gets a brief break before hosting Mississippi Valley State next Tuesday in the fourth of a six-game home-stand. The game tips off at 8 p.m. ET.

Zain Bando is a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats On SI. He can be reached atzainbando99@gmail.comand on Instagram/’X’ @zainbando99.

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Parity is growing in women’s college basketball every day, evidenced in part by so many good early season, non-conference matchups. These games also help increase parity. 

The parity of women’s hoops is also evidenced by all the movement this week in the USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll. Stanford, Illinois and South Dakota State made their season debuts, while Baylor and Duke tumbled down the rankings (and in FSU, Creighton and Indiana’s case, completely out of the poll). 

That means after a slate of ranked matchups this week, even crazier things could happen in next week’s poll. The more parity, the better (and even though the NCAA Tournament feels very far away right now — the more parity, the more entertaining March Madness will be). 

With that in mind, here are five women’s games to watch this week:

OPINION: Dawn Staley is more than the South Carolina women’s basketball coach. She’s a transcendent star.

Creighton at No. 11 Kansas State

Thursday, 6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2

The most under-covered player in women’s college hoops is Kansas State’s Ayoka Lee, a 6-foot-6 center who holds the NCAA single-game scoring record (61 points). Lee is a handful at both ends of the floor, and she’s got a lot around her including Tulsa transfer Temira Poindexter (19.0 ppg) and Missouri State transfer Taylor Kennedy (17.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg). Meanwhile, Creighton did indeed fall to unranked South Dakota State last week, though Lauren Jensen (23 points) was the scoring machine expected. The Blue Jays tend to shoot a lot of 3s and the key to picking up a tough road win this week will be draining a lot of those attempts.

No. 2 UConn at No. 15 North Carolina

Friday, 6 p.m. ET, ESPN2

UConn coach Geno Auriemma will tie the all-time wins record with a victory against the Tar Heels, and you can bet Alyssa Ustby (10.7 ppg, 8.7 rpg) and North Carolina would love nothing more than to spoil that party. Ustby and guard Lexi Donarski (15.0 ppg) will have their hands full with a healthy Paige Bueckers (17.5 ppg, 4.0 apg) and Princeton transfer Kaitlyn Chen (6.0 ppg, 6.0 apg). But keep an eye on UConn freshman Jana El Alfy, a 6-foot-5 freshman center from Cairo, Egypt, who is finally healthy and has come off the bench to give UConn some excellent minutes (11.5 ppg, 9.0 rpg) early this season. She will be a difference maker. 

No. 18 Louisville at No. 19 Kentucky

Saturday, 6 p.m. ET, SECN+

This is a matchup of two of the best coached programs in the country, and an early look at Kentucky under first-year coach Kenny Brooks, who brought All-American guard Georgia Amoore (12.0 ppg, 9.0 apg) and center Clara Strack (18.5 ppg, 9.5 rpg) with him to Lexington. Jeff Walz’s group boasts one of the country’s most underappreciated post players in Olivia Cochran (12.3 ppg, 62 FG%) while freshman guard Tajianna Roberts (15.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg) has shown why she was a five-rated prospect coming out of high school. This is one of the best rivalries in women’s hoops and with Kentucky hiring Brooks last offseason, it only got better. 

No. 23 Stanford at Indiana

Sunday, 2 p.m. ET, FS1

Few people expected much of Stanford this season, as the Cardinal feature a new coach and almost entirely new roster. Picked to finish seventh in the ACC, Stanford thumped Gonzaga last week on the day its home floor was named Tara VanDerveer Court. But that’s not the most impressive thing about the Cardinal four games through the season — it’s the fact that Stanford is shooting a staggering 57.7% from 3. Sophomore forward Nunu Agara (19.3 ppg, 7.5 rpg) does everything for the Cardinal and will be a handful for Indiana, which has dropped back-to-back games to Harvard (yes, Harvard) and Butler. Lilly Meister (12.3 ppg, 7.7 rpg) and Sydney Parrish (11.3 ppg, 8.0 rpg) will be eager to put those losses behind them.

No. 10 NC State at TCU

Sunday, 3 p.m., ESPN

Hailey Van Lith’s TCU debut went about as well as it could have, as the super senior guard turned in a stat line of 21 points, five rebounds, seven assists and six steals. Now she’ll get to go up against one of the best defenses with Wolfpack guards Aziaha James (15.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and Saniya Rivers (7.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg) patrolling the perimeter. The difference maker could very well be seventh-year senior Sedona Prince (19.3 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 5.7 bpg), or maybe sophomore transfer Donovyn Hunter (8.5 ppg, 4.0 apg). 

Email Lindsay Schnell at lschnell@usatoday.com and follow her on social media @Lindsay_Schnell

Patrick Mahomes called the burglary at his Kansas City area home “frustrating and disappointing.”

News broke Tuesday that the homes of Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce were burglarized on Oct. 6 and Oct. 7 respectively. The Chiefs played the Saints on Monday Night Football on Oct. 7.

On Wednesday, Mahomes provided no further information, so it remains unknown whether anyone was home and what exactly was stolen.

“I can’t get into too many of the details because the investigation is still ongoing, but it’s obviously something you don’t want to happen — to really anybody, but obviously yourself,” Mahomes said, via Blair Kerkhoff of Kanas City Star.

Belton police told the newspaper that Mahomes’ home showed no signs of forced entry.

TMZ reported the back door was damaged at Kelce’s house in Leawood and $20,000 in cash was taken, according to a police report.