Mizzou women’s basketball and Kansas State are meeting in the middle.
According to a game contract obtained by the Tribune on Tuesday via an open records request, Missouri and Kansas State’s women’s basketball programs have agreed to play on Sunday, Nov. 22, this upcoming season for a neutral-site game at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
The matchup marks the first known game on the Mizzou schedule for the 2026-27 season, which will be head coach Kellie Harper’s second year in Columbia.
According to game contracts obtained by the Tribune last year, none of the Tigers’ scheduled games from last season were home-and-home series or had scheduled repeat matchups for this year.
That means Mizzou’s 2026-27 calendar is still mostly open, including for the nearly three weeks of the season prior to MU’s game against K-State.
Missouri will participate in the ACC/SEC Challenge in nonconference play, but the Tigers’ opponent for that game, which is likely to fall in early December, is still unknown.
The first games of the 2026-27 women’s college basketball season can be scheduled beginning Nov. 2.
The Tigers went 17-17 in Harper’s first year with the program, including a 4-12 mark in Southeastern Conference play and the program’s first postseason win — a first-round victory over Seton Hall in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament — in three years.
Kansas State, which is coached by Jeff Mittie, went 19-18 last season with a 8-10 record in Big 12 play. The Wildcats, like Missouri, lost in the second round of the WBIT after beating Georgia Tech in the opening round.
Mizzou and Kansas State, former Big 12 rivals, last played in December 2023 in St. Joseph, Missouri.
The agreement, which is for an event called the 28.5 Invitational, had an event cost of $17,000 paid to Missouri Valley Youth Services, which is Missouri-based nonprofit charitable organization and the event organizer.
It’s the second straight season that Mizzou has participated in the 28.5 Invitational, as the Tigers lost to Kansas at T-Mobile Center last November.
Mizzou has eight newcomers on its team this season, including five high school signings and a three-player transfer class.
The Tigers have not been to the NCAA Tournament since the 2018-19 season. The March Madness field field is expanding from 68 to 76 teams beginning next season.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri women’s basketball to play Kansas State in neutral-site game
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