MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas State men’s basketball team has been selected to play in the 2025 Hall of Fame Classic, which is set for Thursday, Nov. 20 and Friday, Nov. 21 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
The Wildcats will be joined in the field by NCAA Tournament participants Mississippi State and New Mexico and recent College Basketball Crown winner Nebraska.
This year’s Hall of Fame Classic will mark the event’s 25th year of operation in Kansas City and will return to its traditional two-day, four-team bracketed format beginning on Thursday, Nov. 20 with the championship and third-place games set for Friday, Nov. 21. A complete bracket, along with ticket information, television details and game times, for the four-team tournament will be announced later.
K-State will be making its fourth appearance in the Hall of Fame Classic and the first since 2021. The Wildcats finished as the tournament runner-up in their first two visits, defeating No. 18 Gonzaga before losing to top-ranked Duke in 2010 and defeating Missouri before losing to No. 9 North Carolina in 2015. The team lost to No. 13 Arkansas and No. 14 Illinois in their most recent appearance in 2021.
Nebraska will be making its second appearance and first since 2018, while Mississippi State and New Mexico will be competing in the tournament for the first time.
K-State leads the all-time series with all three potential opponents, including 3-1 with Mississippi State, 4-2 with New Mexico and 128-94 with Nebraska. The Wildcats last met the Bulldogs in 2019, the Lobos in 2006 and Cornhuskers in 2023.
Possible tournament opponents:
- Mississippi State (21-13) earned its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, along with its third straight 20-win season, under head coach Chris Jans in 2024-25. The Bulldogs finished in a four-way tie for ninth with Arkansas, Georgia and Vanderbilt in the SEC with an 8-10 mark.
- Nebraska (21-14) won 20 or more games for the second straight season under head coach Fred Hoiberg, defeating Arizona State, Georgetown, Boise State and UCF to claim the inaugural College Basketball Crown tournament championship. The Huskers finished 7-13 in Big Ten play.
- New Mexico (27-8) won the Mountain West regular-season championship with a 17-3 record and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season. The Lobos will be led by first-year head coach Eric Olen, who guided UC San Diego to a Big West regular-season and tournament titles and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2025.
The Hall of Fame Classic was created by the Kansas City-based National Association of Basketball Classic (NABC) in 2001 as the Guardians Classic and was later known as the CBE Classic and CBE Hall of Fame Classic before being rebranded as the Hall of Fame Classic in 2017.
Last season, the Hall of Fame Classic was a single day competition with Utah State defeating Iowa, 77-69, and Wichita State defeating Saint Louis, 88-63.
More information on the Hall of Fame Classic can be found here.