3 Notable Players To Watch When Kansas State Visits Houston

Another weekend home game for Houston at Fertitta Center will be rocking as Kansas State comes roaring into town with eyes on upsetting one of the sport's best teams right now.

Head coach Kelvin Sampson has led his unit to a 22-2 record with an opportunity to make more noise than it did last year if it can continue to pull its act together and win the games that it is supposed to, even if it falls on the easier side of the schedule.

The Wildcats are not really in the conversation to make a run in the Big 12 Tournament, but anything is possible, even if it is 10-14 overall. To get their offense going, these three players must lock in and ensure that the Cougars’ defense doesn’t make enough plays to compile another victory in the conference.

P.J. Haggerty, Guard

2️⃣2️⃣-2️⃣ overall
9️⃣-1️⃣ in @Big12Conference

On to the next one...

Presented by @Group1Auto #ForTheCity x #GoCoogs pic.twitter.com/d2kzWlZdId
— Houston Men's Hoops 🏀 🐾 (@UHCougarMBK) February 12, 2026

The native right down the road from Crosby, Texas, will be playing in his home state, as he’ll be motivated and energetic about playing in a crowd that might possibly have friends and family in attendance. As the team's leader, Haggerty is leading in points and minutes.

This season, the 6-foot-4 guard is posting 23.3 points per game to go along with 34.5 minutes per game. He’s appeared in 24 games this season, where he is also averaging 5.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists, so he’s constantly keeping the offense in balance as he is a fighter who takes every game seriously that he steps on the floor.

From the field, the junior is going 49.2 percent, where he is also shooting 36.7 percent from three. He’ll draw a fair amount of trips to the charity stripe, where he banks in a ton of his shots with a 71.1 percentage rate. He’s sometimes not careful with the ball, as he averages 3.5 turnovers, which leads the team, so watch the Cougars’ defense try to take advantage of that if it can.

David Castillo, Guard

Sophomore guard David Castillo is the second-best shooter from three that the Wildcats have this season, where he is going 43.2 percent from beyond the arc. He averages 11.5 points per game with 2.2 rebounds to go along with his 1.9 assists. He’s very disciplined with the ball and feeds it to his players when they are open, but he is not scared to take it into his own hands and have several baskets.

Not often do you see Castillo have a block or a steal, but he’ll respond on the offensive end by getting the referees to blow the whistle, where he gets the chance to take shots from the line, where he is an 81.1 percent shooter. His best performance of the season was against Bowling Green, when he recorded 22 points and shot 53.3 percent from the field, making 8 of his 15 field goals.

He’s been asked to do more after his teammate, Abdi Bashir, has been out for the last several games, so this could be one where Kansas State really values him being on the court.

Khamari McGriff, Forward

The big man in the group who does the most work inside has been Khamari McGriff, who has been the Wildcats' best forward this season. He’s good at boxing out and getting boards, which might make for an interesting matchup when he faces the Houston big guys.

In the 2025-26 campaign, the 6-foot-9 senior star is averaging 9.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists. From the field, he is a 73.9 percent shooter and is going to try to impose himself if he can early on; if he doesn’t get into foul trouble against an aggressive Cougars’ defense that is one of the best in the nation.

If the Tallahassee, Florida native can get into double digits and really poke away in the game if the team trails, it could quite possibly be his evening as he’s already had nine games where he’s had 10 or more points. He only had seven in his last game against Cincinnati, so he might be yearning for that breakout game.

Houston hosts Kansas State on February 14 at 3 p.m., with the game streamed live on Peacock.