The Sunflower Showdown is the series of athletic contests between

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

and the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

athletic programs, most notably

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. The name is derived from the official nickname for the state of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

: the

Sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as ...

State. The two schools compete each year for the Governor's Cup in football. The football series dates back to 1902, and has been played every year since

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

, making it the fourth-longest active series in NCAA college football. The University of Kansas built a large advantage in the series by 1923, and leads the overall series 64–50–5 or 65–49–5 (depending on whether a 1980 forfeit by KU is counted) as of the end of the

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

season. The men's basketball series dates back to 1907, and is the most-played series in either school's history, and the sixth-most-played in NCAA history.http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/2012/DI.pdf Kansas has dominated the all-time series and leads the men's basketball series 203–94 following the most recent game on February 22, 2022. This is the most victories by one school over another in NCAA Division I men's basketball. Kansas has led in the all-time series since 1922, and since 1984, Kansas leads the series 85–12. In 2010,

Dillons Dillons is a grocery supermarket chain based in Hutchinson, Kansas, and is a division of Kroger. Other banners under Dillon Stores Division include Gerbes in Missouri and Baker's in Omaha, Nebraska. Dillons operates grocery stores throughout K ...

bought the naming rights and the series was re-branded "The Dillon’s Sunflower Showdown".

Origins

The rivalry between the two schools can be traced indirectly back to their creation in the 1860s. The towns of

Manhattan, Kansas Manhattan is a city and county seat of Riley County, Kansas, United States, although the city extends into Pottawatomie County. It is located in northeastern Kansas at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. As of the 2020 cen ...

(now home to KSU) and

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...

(now home to KU) both competed to be the site of the state University – required in the

Kansas Constitution The Wyandotte Constitution is the constitution of the U.S. state of Kansas. Background The Kansas Territory was created in 1854. The largest issue by far in territorial Kansas was whether slavery was to be permitted or prohibited; aside from the m ...

– after Kansas achieved statehood in 1861. Manhattan would have become the home of the university in 1861, but the bill establishing the University in Manhattan was controversially

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...

ed by Governor

Charles L. Robinson Charles Lawrence Robinson (July 21, 1818 – August 17, 1894) was an American politician who served in the California State Assembly from 1851-52, and later as the first Governor of Kansas from 1861 until 1863. He was also the first governor o ...

of Lawrence. An attempt to override the veto in the

Legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

failed by two votes. In 1862, another bill to make Manhattan the site of the University failed by one vote. Finally, on the third attempt, on February 16, 1863, the Kansas Legislature designated Manhattan as home to the state's

Land-grant university A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts, Morrill Acts of 1862 and ...

. Yet the legislature was not done. Prodded by former Governor Robinson, the Legislature distinguished this institution from the "University" in the Constitution, and on February 20 the Legislature named Lawrence as the home to the state university (provided Lawrence could raise $15,000 and acquire not less than of land). When Lawrence met these conditions, the University of Kansas was established there in 1865. The first recorded meeting between the two institutions in athletic competition was a little more than thirty years after their founding, in a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

game in

1898 Events January–March * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, B ...

Men's basketball

The two schools have had a strong rivalry in basketball for several decades, peaking in the 1950s. Recently, the University of Kansas has been dominant in the series, including a winning streak of 31 games over K-State that lasted from 1994 to 2005. Despite the lopsided record, the rivalry has become more relevant again in recent years, with both teams ranked in the

AP Top 25 The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

for many of the match-ups.

Jeff Sagarin Jeff Sagarin is an American sports statistician known for his development of a method for ranking and rating sports teams in a variety of sports. His ratings have been a regular feature in the ''USA Today'' sports section since 1985, have been us ...

's rankings of the nation's top programs by decade in the ''ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia'' nicely track the history of the rivalry. In the 1950s, when the rivalry was at its peak, Kansas State finished the decade ranked as the #3 program in the nation and KU was ranked as #4. In the 1960s KU was ranked #9 for the decade and KSU was ranked #11. In the 1970s, the programs were again nearly even, with Kansas State ranked at #24 and KU at #25. In the 1980s some separation appeared, as KU finished the decade ranked at #19 and Kansas State at #31. The big difference appeared in the 1990s and 2000s when KU was ranked at #4 and #2 for the decades, while Kansas State does not appear anywhere in the top 40. Even when the schools are at different levels, upsets are always a possibility in the rivalry, as when Kansas State upset a KU team that was ranked #1 in the AP Poll on January 17, 1994, or when KU pulled the upset on a K-State team ranked #1 on January 17, 1953. Most recently, K-State beat a #1 KU team on February 14, 2011 in Manhattan. Over the decades, the rivalry has seen a number of notable coaches match wits, including Jack Gardner,

Tex Winter Morice Fredrick "Tex" Winter (February 25, 1922 – October 10, 2018) was an American basketball coach and innovator of the triangle offense. He was a head coach in college basketball for 30 years before becoming an assistant coach in the National ...

Lon Kruger Lonnie Duane Kruger (born August 19, 1952) is a retired American college and professional basketball coach who was most recently the men's basketball head coach of the University of Oklahoma. Kruger played college basketball for Kansas State Uni ...

and

Jack Hartman Jack Hartman (October 7, 1925 – November 6, 1998) was an American gridiron football player and basketball coach. Hartman played basketball and football collegiately at Oklahoma State University with his basketball tutelage under famed coach ...

at Kansas State, and

James Naismith James Naismith (; November 6, 1861November 28, 1939) was a Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United States, he wrote ...

Phog Allen Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen (November 18, 1885 – September 16, 1974) was an American basketball coach. Known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching,"Larry Brown, Roy Williams and

Bill Self Billy Eugene Self Jr. (born December 27, 1962) is an American basketball coach. He is the head men's basketball coach at the University of Kansas, a position he has held since 2003. During his 19 seasons as head coach, he has led the Jayhawks to ...

at KU.

Early years

The teams were fairly even up until the 1930s, with the series standings at 31–27 in favor of Kansas entering the decade. During the 1930s and 40s, Kansas gained a large lead in the standings with a number of win streaks, including 22 in a row from 1938 to 1947. In 1935 Kansas tied an NCAA record by beating Kansas State five times in the same calendar year, a feat that was only accomplished one other time, when Kansas beat Nebraska five times in 1909.

1950s

Both schools were national title contenders in the 1950s, with Kansas State starting the decade in the title game of the 1951 NCAA tournament, and KU winning the title at the 1952 NCAA tournament. One of the more notable games of the 1951–1952 season was a 90–88 overtime victory by #4 KU over #8 K-State in the 1951 Big Seven Holiday Tournament. KU returned to the national title game in the

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

NCAA Tournament missing back to back titles by 1 point, claiming the league title along the way over a KSU team that had earlier been the top-ranked basketball team in the country. The rivalry heated up further with the arrival of

Bob Boozer Robert Louis Boozer (April 26, 1937 – May 19, 2012) was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Boozer won a gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics and won an NBA Championship as a member of the ...

at Kansas State and

Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain (; August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player who played as a Center (basketball), center. Standing at tall, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 yea ...

at KU in the middle of the decade. In the 1955–1956 season, Kansas State split the season series with KU and won the Big Seven Conference title. The following year, Chamberlain led KU to the league title and a triple-overtime loss to

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

in the title game of the 1957 NCAA tournament. Kansas and Kansas State played another classic the following season, when Boozer scored 32 points in a 79–75 double-overtime victory at KU on February 3, 1958, while KSU was ranked #4 and KU was ranked #2. (When the two teams had previously met that season on December 30, 1957, they were ranked #2 and #3 in the country.) Following that season, KSU made another appearance in the Final Four. To close the decade, Kansas State swept the season series from KU on the way to a 25–2 record and a #1 ranking in the final

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

for

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

During the 1950s, the two schools also engaged in one-upsmanship in facilities. In prior decades, Kansas State had played their games in

Nichols Hall Nichols Hall is a building on the campus of Kansas State University. This building was originally built in 1911 and appears from the exterior as a castle with battlements. Its interior was destroyed by fire in 1968; the structure was rebuilt in ...

, which doubled as a gymnasium, livestock pavilion, and pool. In the late-1940s the state Legislature approved and paid for the construction of a new and much larger basketball facility. In 1950 Kansas State opened Ahearn Field House, one of the largest basketball facilities in the country at the time, which seated 14,000 spectators. Meanwhile, KU still played their home games on a converted stage in

Hoch Auditorium Budig Hall is an academic building on the main campus of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. The building houses one 1,000-seat lecture hall, two 500-seat lecture halls, and a computer lab. Hoch Auditorium Hoch Auditorium was a 5 ...

with a seating capacity of 5,500. In response to the construction of Ahearn, the University of Kansas successfully lobbied the Legislature to approve the construction of

Allen Fieldhouse Allen Fieldhouse is an indoor arena on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence, Kansas. It is home of the Kansas Jayhawks men's and women's basketball teams. The arena is named after Phog Allen, a former player and head coach for the Jayhaw ...

, which would seat 17,000. KU opened the facility with a 77–66 victory over Kansas State on March 1, 1955. This period also saw the beginning of the 'Sunflower Doubleheader', with two non-conference teams visiting the state to play KU and K-State at one venue one night, then switching venues and opponents the following evening. This event was held from 1957 to 1968, and featured national powerhouses such as

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, Xavier,

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, St. Joseph's, Cal, and Marquette.

1960s and 1970s

The basketball rivalry between the two schools continued unabated through the 1960s and 1970s, with the two schools competing annually for the Big Eight Conference championship (see chart below). In

Dick Harp Richard F. Harp (March 28, 1918 – March 18, 2000) was an American college basketball coach who spent the majority of his career at the University of Kansas. He became the Kansas Jayhawks' fourth men's basketball coach in 1956. He coached for e ...

's last two seasons as the KU coach, the Jayhawks plummeted to losing records of 7–18 in 1962 and 12–13 in 1963. Nevertheless, in the championship game of the Big Eight Holiday Tournament in December 1962, KU posted a surprising 90-88 quadruple-overtime victory over K-State. Also, on February 20, 1965, one of the classic pranks in the series was perpetrated when a pair of 6x12 banners saying "Go Cats, Kill Snob Hill Again" unfurled on the east and west sides of the Allen Fieldhouse scoreboard with eight minutes left in the first half. Unfortunately for the Cats, this did not come to pass, as KU beat K-State 88–66. Another popular "prank" perpetrated by Kansas State students throughout the years is throwing live chickens, painted blue and red, on the court during pre-game introductions, as a taunt at the Kansas mascot, the Jayhawk. For years the Kansas State administration has attempted to stop this practice, and following a nationally televised game on February 19, 2007,

PETA Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...

complained about it in a letter to KSU President

Jon Wefald Jon Michael Wefald (November 24, 1937 – April 16, 2022) was an American educator and served as the twelfth president of Kansas State University. Biography Wefald was born in Minneapolis and moved, at age six, with his family to Minot, North ...

1980s

The 1980s saw the return of star power to the schools and arguably the rivalry's most high-profile game. At the start of the decade,

Rolando Blackman Rolando Antonio Blackman (born February 26, 1959) is a Panamanian-American former professional basketball player. He was a four-time NBA All-Star who spent most of his career with the Dallas Mavericks. Blackman was born in Panama City, Panama, ...

at Kansas State and

Darnell Valentine Darnell Terrell Valentine (born February 3, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player who played ten seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Early life Valentine was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Wic ...

at KU squared off in some classic match-ups. To close the decade, it was

Mitch Richmond Mitchell James Richmond III (born June 30, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player. He played collegiately at Moberly Area Community College and Kansas State University. He was a six-time NBA All-Star, a five-time All-NBA Tea ...

(K-State) and

Danny Manning Daniel Ricardo Manning (born May 17, 1966) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the Associate Head Mens Basketball Coach at the University of Louisville. Manning played high school basketball at Walter Hin ...

(KU) battling. With Richmond and Manning in their senior years, the 1987–1988 season proved to be eventful in the rivalry. In the first matchup of the season, on January 30, 1988, Richmond scored 35 points to lead Kansas State to a 72-61 win to halt KU's then-record 55-game home winning streak. On February 18, KU turned the tables, prevailing 64–63 in Ahearn Field House to deny K-State a victory over KU in the old field house's last year. In what was supposed to be the rubber game, in the 1988

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associatio ...

tournament, Kansas State won a decisive victory by a 69–54 score. Both teams qualified for the NCAA tournament, and after three wins apiece in the tournament they faced each other on March 27 in

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit. Founde ...

, for the right to advance to the Final Four. Led by Manning's 20 points, KU turned a tight game into a runaway and prevailed 71–58. They eventually advanced to claim the school's second NCAA Tournament Championship. That game in the

Pontiac Silverdome The Pontiac Silverdome (also known simply as the Silverdome) was a stadium in Pontiac, Michigan. It opened in 1975 and sat on 199 acres (51 ha) of land. When the stadium opened, it featured a fiberglass fabric roof held up by air pressure, ...

was the first ever meeting between the 'Hawks and the 'Cats not played in Lawrence, Manhattan, or

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

The 1990s and 2000s

The rivalry slipped in significance after the 1988 season, as K-State slowly declined in the Big 8 and Big 12 conferences and KU saw sustained success under new coach Roy Williams. During Williams' tenure at Kansas, the Jayhawks went 50–6 against the Wildcats. Only occasionally would K-State make some noise, such as the 68–64 win over then-#1 KU in Allen Fieldhouse in 1994. From 1994 to 2005, KU won 31 straight games against K-State, the longest streak for either school in the series. Also, from 1984 to 2007, KU won 24 straight games on the Wildcats' home floor, the third longest win-streak on an opponents home court in NCAA history. During the latter streak, K-State won seven games against KU, but all were away from Manhattan: four games in Lawrence (1988, 1989, 1994, 2006) and three games in the Big Eight Tournament in Kansas City (1988, 1989, 1993). The streak began in Ahearn Field House, where KU won the final five meetings, and carried over into

Bramlage Coliseum Fred Bramlage Coliseum is a multi-purpose arena in Manhattan, Kansas with an official capacity of 11,654. It is the home to the K-State Men's and Women's basketball teams and serves as an alternative venue for K-State Women's Volleyball. The faci ...

, where KU won the first 19 contests. KU's streak at Bramlage Coliseum came to an end on January 30, 2008, when #22-ranked Kansas State upset previously-unbeaten #2 Kansas 84–75. Beasley kstate

2006–present

When Kansas State hired coach

Bob Huggins Robert Edward Huggins (born September 21, 1953) is an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed “Huggy Bear,” he is currently the head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball team. Huggins previously held the head coach ...

to replace

Jim Wooldridge James Allen Wooldridge (born August 22, 1955) is an American former college basketball coach and athletics administrator. Wooldridge was head coach at Central Missouri State, Texas State, Louisiana Tech, Kansas State, and UC Riverside. After hi ...

in the 2006 off-season, Huggins sought to reinvigorate the rivalry. At K-State's "Madness in Manhattan" celebration to start the 2006–2007 season, Huggins referred to KU's 23-game winning streak in Manhattan and said that "February 19th is when we break the streak." However, KU swept the season series from Kansas State, and Huggins departed following the season to coach his alma mater,

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

. The 2007–2008 season presented a contrast between youth and experience. KU was led by the experienced coach

and retained a lineup of experienced players. Kansas State was led by a first-year head coach, Frank Martin, and featured one of the top-rated groups of freshman players in the nation. Prior to the season, Kansas State freshman phenom

Michael Beasley Michael Paul Beasley Jr. (born January 9, 1989) is an American professional basketball player, who most recently played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for Kansas State Univers ...

boasted that "We're gonna beat KU at home. We're gonna beat 'em at their house. We're gonna beat 'em in Africa. Wherever we play we're gonna beat 'em." KU came into the first match-up of the season, on January 30, 2008, with a 20–0 record and a #2 national ranking, but Kansas State prevailed 84–75, ending KU's long winning streak in Manhattan. On Kansas State's trip to Lawrence later that year, though, Kansas won 88–74, leaving Beasley's prophecy unfulfilled. Both schools advanced to the NCAA tournament at the conclusion of the 2008 regular season, and Kansas went on to win its third NCAA Tournament championship. The rivalry featured three high-profile match-ups during the 2009–2010 season. In the first game on January 30, 2010, in Manhattan with

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's College GameDay broadcasting live from the game, Kansas came into the game ranked #2, while Kansas State was ranked #11. KU prevailed in overtime 81–79, in a game that ESPN described as a "classic." After the game, Kansas center

Cole Aldrich Cole David Aldrich (born October 31, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player. He previously played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, and Minnesota Timberwol ...

said, "You're going to get done playing basketball, and you're going to look back and say, 'I loved playing that game.'" The ''

Wichita Eagle ''The Wichita Eagle'' is a daily newspaper published in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is owned by The McClatchy Company and is the largest newspaper in Wichita and the surrounding area. History Origins In 1870, ''The Vidette'' was the fi ...

'' wrote that the "rivalry is back." The second match-up on March 3, 2010 was the first time since 1958 that both teams were ranked in the top 5 with Kansas at #2 and KSU at #5. With number one seed implications on the line, Frank Martin called it "the biggest game we've ever played at K-State". Kansas went on to win 82–65 and secure sole possession of the Big 12 Championship. The two teams met again in the

2010 Big 12 men's basketball tournament The 2010 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship was the 2010 edition of the Big 12 Conference's championship tournament held at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri from March 10 until March 13, 2010. It was won by top-seeded Kans ...

championship game with KU ranked #1 in the nation and KSU ranked #9. The Jayhawks won 72–64, completing a three-game sweep of the Wildcats and winning the Big 12 Tournament title. Kansas-Basketball-Staff-Nov-15-07-Washburn

Kansas-Basketball-Staff-Nov-15-07-Washburn

After Frank Martin left K-State in 2012 to take the coaching job with the

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fighti ...

, he was replaced by Bruce Weber, former

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

head coach. Weber led his first Kansas State team to a co-conference championship with KU in 2013. For Kansas, it was the ninth straight league title and eleventh in twelve seasons; for Kansas State, it was the first regular season conference title since winning the Big Eight in 1977. During the regular season, Kansas swept Kansas State with a 59–55 victory in Manhattan and an 83–62 victory in Lawrence. The two teams met a third time in the finals of the 2013 Big 12 Tournament, where Kansas bested Kansas State 70–54 for the three-game sweep. The 2013-2014 season saw a season split between the rivals. Kansas won 86–60 in the first meeting in Lawrence, and Kansas State won in Manhattan in overtime, 85–82, with ESPN's College GameDay again broadcasting from the game. After winning in Manhattan again in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, Kansas State had won four of the last eight at home since ending KU's 24-game winning streak in Manhattan in 2008. Kansas State has since dropped 6 of the last 7 at home. One of the ugliest moments in the rivalry's history took place in January 2020 in Allen Fieldhouse, when a brawl erupted between KU and KSU players near the end of an 81-60 Jayhawk win over the Wildcats. The brawl started after KU's Silvio De Sousa had the ball stolen from him by KSU's DaJuan Gordon while attempting to dribble out the last few seconds of the game with a 21-point lead. De Sousa recovered to block a layup attempt and then stood over Gordon. In response to a perceived taunt, the Kansas State bench cleared followed quickly by Kansas' bench, and punches were thrown. The brawl went into the handicap seating area, knocking over fans. At one point De Sousa picked up a chair over his head, but dropped it seeing only KU players in front of him. The brawl resulted in a KU assistant coach suffering a broken arm, multiple school enforced player suspensions, and separate suspensions being handed down from the Big 12.

Conference basketball supremacy

From 1946 through 1978, Kansas and Kansas State made the competition for the basketball title for their conference (known as the Big Six, Big Seven and Big Eight during this time) virtually a two-way affair. During this 33-year period, KU or KSU won or shared the title 26 times. The following chart shows the conference titles captured by the Sunflower Showdown schools during this span of time. Since 1991 Kansas has won or shared the Big 8 and Big 12 titles 24 of the 30 years. Kansas and Kansas State shared the Big 12 regular-season title for the 2012–2013 season.

Football

After the two programs began playing each other in football in 1902, ill will soon surfaced. Following the

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Januar ...

contest, a 5–3 KU victory, a dispute between the schools led them to cancel the game scheduled for the 1910 season. After taking the break in 1910, the teams have met on the field every autumn since, and the 2010 game marked the 100th straight year the two teams played. Only five other series in college football history have been contested for more consecutive years. KU was notably dominant in the series during the early years, building a 17–1–3 advantage through the 1923 season. Since 1923 the programs have been much more even, K-State leads 48–47–2 during that period (including a 1980 forfeit by KU). Because KU does not acknowledge the forfeit as a loss, the two schools disagree on the overall series record: KU says it leads the series 65–50–5, while Kansas State reports the record as 64–51–5 following the 2020 game. Kansas cites NCAA policy to explain its refusal to reckon the 1980 game as a Kansas State win; the policy states that statistics and records are not altered unless imposed by NCAA Executive action. The forfeit was voted on by the conference members and no such action was ever imposed by the NCAA. Therefore, the game result and statistics remain in the NCAA records. After the first 90 years of the rivalry, Kansas led the series 59–26–5 following 1992 game. The series swung in Kansas State's favor over the next 27 years. Kansas has never trailed in the all-time record. The teams began competing for the Governor's Cup in 1969, and many of the most storied or interesting games between the programs have come during this era, including a 1995 match-up between sixth-ranked Kansas and fourteenth-ranked Kansas State, won by Kansas State 41–7. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Kansas State fielded a much stronger team – annually garnering high national rankings – resulting in an 11-game winning streak over KU that lasted from 1993 through the 2003 season, finally ending in 2004. That winning streak was the longest for either team in the history of the rivalry, now second to KSU's current 13-game winning streak that began with the 2009 game.

Baseball

The schools first met on the baseball field in 1898. The all-time series record is disputed between the two schools, with the KU media guide listing the Jayhawks ahead 185-176-1, while the KSU media guideKSU Baseball Season by Season Record
/ref> list the series with KSU ahead 178-169-1 (following the 2017 regular season). The discrepancy is likely the result of highly inaccurate records by both schools for the early years of the series, with games missing from both record books. For example, in the 1912 season the KU media guide states that the teams met four times with KU winning three of four. On the other hand, the KSU media guide lists only one matchup, with KSU the victor. A four-game series was the standard at the time, as both record books reflect a four-game series in 1911 and 1913. Another example is in the 1914 season where the KU record books reflect four matchups with each team winning two, while the KSU books show only two matchups and KSU the winner of both. In the 1916 season the KSU record books show a four-game series with KU winning all four, while KU books do not reflect having played KSU at all. These sort of discrepancies are frequent until the late 20s when both schools books begin to coincide.

Series standings

The schools compete annually in football, men's basketball, women's basketball, women's volleyball, baseball, cross country, track and field, women's tennis, rowing, men's golf, and women's golf. Kansas State does not currently sponsor fast-pitch softball and neither sponsor men's tennis. Below are the series records in the major sports that both schools currently compete in. Kansas leads the active series in all sports combined 629–504–9 according to KU or 613–510–9 according to K-State.

Notes

References

External links

Sunflower Showdown football site

Sunflower Showdown basketball site

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