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from 1.28.22
Study abroad program in full swing as students embrace overseas education
EDEN BROCKMAN
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staff writer
The pandemic presented hurdles and hiccups to studying abroad, but now more and more Kansas State students are studying abroad again as programs and universities adapt.
Education Abroad Acting Director Brent Holliday said there are currently 82 students abroad, with several more going abroad this semester and around 20 students who studied abroad this past fall. About 210 students would study abroad in a typical spring term before the pandemic.
Lauren Rudd, graduate master’s student in interior architecture and product design, is studying abroad in Orvieto, Italy. Rudd said the experience has been amazing so far.
“The town here looks like it was pulled out of a storybook … The first couple of days we were here, [the locals] showed us the historical spots of the town like the duomo and the underground cave system, and now we are just spending our days drink- ing espresso, taking classes and eating gelato,” Rudd said.
Even so, COVID-19 has changed parts of the experience.
“We do have to wear masks all of the time, and we have to show our vaccine cards every time we go into a new store or restaurant,” Rudd said. “The biggest thing COVID affected was the process getting here. We had to isolate a week to two weeks before we left to make sure we didn’t get COVID. And then we had to test negative 72 hours before arriving in Italy.”
Through the obstacles, students like Kaia Hayes, junior in hospitality management and French, who is studying in Aix-en-Provence, France, still found the experience of studying abroad worth it because it is a unique opportunity to be a student in another country.
“Exploring new cities is cool, but taking classes and everyday life in another country is something you will not get any time else,” Hayes said. “There are so many perks to living abroad while being a student. There are discounts for everything for students in Europe, and there are many programs for students.”
Education Abroad advisor Kelly Plazibat said K-State is better prepared to handle COVID-19 abroad through its new insurance policy.
“Luckily, K-State recently started working with a new international insurance provider,” Plazibat said. “They cover the cost of quarantine, so hospitalizations, meals and other quarantine-related expenses are now covered under KSU’s international insurance policy that students are all under when they go abroad under one of our programs.”
Holliday said another silver lining to studying abroad during the pandemic is that students get to spend more time in their host country.
“There has been a shift to more singular location experiences rather than multi-country study tours for obvious reasons — mostly relating to regulations around COVID,” Holliday said. “One silver lining is that students are engaging more with their host country and city, and they are developing more friendships locally.”
Hayes agreed with Holliday, saying she has already benefited a lot from the friendships that she has made abroad.
“I did not realize how many people I would be meeting, which is so cool,” Hayes said. “I have made so many friends and am already close with my roommate. I am excited to keep building these relationships.”
If interested in going abroad, Rudd suggests doing it.
“I haven’t even been here for ten days yet, and I am so in love with this experience,” Rudd said. “Being here — fully immersed in another culture completely unlike my own — has pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced me to grow in new ways. I like who I am as a person more because of it.”
Holliday said that students should take the first step and meet with their education abroad advisor if they are curious about what opportunities might be available to them on an education abroad experience.
“Meeting with someone in our office is a great first step, and you are not committed to anything at that step,” Holliday said.
“It is just about learning and exploring opportunities that exist.” “If students want to have an education abroad experience, I do not want them to feel like they can’t at this time,” Plazibat said. “We are doing everything we can to make that a reality for them.”
The education abroad office is located at 304 Fairchild hall and can be reached at overseas@ksu.edu.
Photo courtesy of Kaia Hayes
Men’s basketball can’t get offense going against Baylor, falls 74-49
LANDON REINHARDT
sports editor
Against a No. 4-ranked Baylor team known for their stringent defense, the Kansas State men’s basketball team (10-9, 2-6) couldn’t reach the half-century mark. The Wildcats fall to the Bears 74-49 on Tuesday, Jan. 25.
K-State used a three-pointer from sophomore Ish Massoud to take an early 3-0 lead at the 19:18 mark in the first half. After that — it was all Baylor.
Over the next 13 minutes, Baylor scored 21 points on the Wildcats and used its reigning national champion defense to limit K-State offensively. It wasn’t until the 6:40 mark in the first half that Bruce Weber’s squad would reach double-digit scoring.
“They’re the best offense and defense [in the Big 12],” head coach Bruce Weber said. “We didn’t do a good job of attacking from the start.”
Transition offense for Baylor off of K-State turnovers and missed shots racked up points for Baylor for the remainder of the first half. Coupled with continued good defense, K-State went into halftime trailing 21-39.
The second half was much of the same. K-State found a few ways to power through and make a shot, but Baylor would just turn around and score on the oth-
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er end. The score differential hovered around the 20-point area for most of the second half before settling at a final score of 74-49.
“Not much we can say — we just got our butts kicked,” Weber said. “I think we were a step behind in every play. They were on their toes: we were on our heels.”
Coming off a historic day against Kansas on Saturday, Jan. 22, sophomore Nijel Pack failed to live up to his co-Big 12 Player of the Week play against Baylor. With only five points going into halftime, Pack finished with 13 on 4-12 shooting with two rebounds and one assist.
“I missed my shots, missed my layups,” Pack said. “I got to be better. I got to get my teammates involved.”
Even with the off night, Pack still led the Wildcats in scoring, as junior Markquis Nowell was the only other Wildcat to reach double-figures with 11 points. Other starters – super-senior Mark Smith, Massoud and sophomore Selton Miguel – finished with six, three and two points, respectively.
Miguel had the worst night of all, as he was helped off the court by teammates after suffering an ankle injury. After spending some time on the sideline, Miguel was taken to the locker room by the training staff. There is currently no timetable for Miguel’s return.
“He hurt his ankle, it was really swollen,” Weber said. “He wasn’t in the locker room when I got back, so they might have taken him to get X-rays.”
Baylor had a very balanced offensive attack, with four players reaching double figures: sophomore LJ Cryer (14), juniors Johnathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua (13) and Adam Flagler (13) and freshman Kendall Brown (10).
K-State turns its focus towards Ole Miss for the Big 12/SEC Challenge at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 29, traveling to Oxford, Mississippi, to take on the Rebels. K-State is 3-5 all-time in the inter-conference challenge but is riding a two-game winning streak. The game will air on ESPNU, with a recap on the Collegian after the game.
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Rough first quarter dooms women’s basketball against Texas
NATHAN ENSERRO
asst. sports editor
Kansas State was never in the game against No. 9 Texas in Austin on Wednesday, Jan. 26. After a slow start, the Wildcats could not make a game out of it and fell 66-48.
K-State got the first three shots off in the game but couldn’t get a single one to fall as they started the game 0-for-6 and had a 5-0 deficit off the bat.
It took four minutes for K-State to find the bottom of the net and nearly six more to do it again. The team shot just 2-13 and turned the ball over six times to just one assist. Luckily for K-State, Texas had not started making shots yet. The Wildcats only trailed 12-4 after one quarter.
A combination of press defense and strong on-ball pressure from Texas limited K-State’s ability to feed star junior center Ayoka Lee in good spots for her to score.
The second quarter was much kinder to K-State despite freshman point guard Serena Sundell spending a lot of it on the bench with an injury.
K-State shot 6-9 in the second quarter but struggled to limit Texas on defense or get points off of rebounds. Texas took a 30-17 lead into the halftime locker room.
K-State managed to cut the Texas lead to 11 out of the locker room, but the Longhorns always seemed to have an answer. The Wildcats actually outscored Texas in the third quarter, but not enough for it to matter.
The fourth quarter saw K-State make a couple of runs but never seriously challenge Texas or meaningfully impact the momentum.
K-State shot just 35 percent and was 1-6 from threepoint range in the contest. The Wildcats also committed 19 turnovers to just nine assists, resulting in a free 18 points for Texas from turnovers.
A few days after setting the NCAA record for points in a game, Lee was held to 20 points and 11 rebounds. Most of those points came later in the game as K-State tried to force the ball inside more in an effort to come back. She played for 39 minutes.
Sundell was the only other Wildcat in double figures, scoring 13 points and providing four assists.
The No. 25 Wildcats have a chance to get back into the race for the Big 12 Championship with a home date against TCU at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 29. After that, they will head to play another top-15 team in Iowa State on the road.
PREVIEW: Men’s basketball team prepares for Big 12/SEC Challenge
KELSEY BIGELOW
staff writer
The Kansas State men’s basketball team (10-9, 2-6) takes a sigh of relief as it heads to Oxford, Mississippi, this weekend to take on Ole Miss (10-10, 2-5) in what will be the Wildcats’ first competition against an unranked opponent since Jan. 12.
The match-up is part of the ninth annual Big 12/SEC Challenge. Despite losing the overall challenge in 2021, Big 12 teams hold an overall record of 44-35, a winning record which the Wildcats look to contribute to on Saturday.
The two teams enter the game nearly indistinguishably, statistically speaking — K-State enters the game 10-9, Ole Miss comes in at 10-10. The Wildcats come in averaging 67.5 points per game on 42.5 percent shooting from the field, while the Rebels average 67.4 points per game on 42.8 percent shooting. Both teams average 34 boards a game and own a 1.1 assist-to-turnover ratio. The largest discrepancy between the two teams on paper is the points given up, but even then, the difference is just 3.2 points per game.
Ole Miss has been without its star senior Jarkel Joiner since Dec. 21, when he suffered a back injury. Joiner led the team in offense, and, despite missing eight games, is still listed as third on the team’s overall scoring list.
In the eight-game stretch since Joiner’s injury, sophomore guard Matthew Murrell has filled some void. He is leading the team during that stretch with 15.8 points per game while shooting 51.2 percent from the field.
Murrell has been efficient from deep as well, hitting multiple threes in seven of those eight games, including a perfect 5-for5 performance earlier this month against Mississippi State. During that stretch, Murrell is shooting 50 percent from a distance.
Another guy showing up for the Rebels as of late is the 5 foot 9 inch point guard Daeshun Ruffin. Ruffin found himself starting in the lineup because of the injury to Joiner, and he hasn’t missed a beat. In his eight starts, Ruffin has averaged 11.1 points, four assists and nearly three steals per game.
The Rebels have also seen solid minutes from their big guy, senior Nysier Brooks. Brooks is averaging nearly eight rebounds and 9.6 points per game this season. He has also tallied 24 blocks.
Brooks and the paint is an area the Wildcats will have to attack, as Ole Miss has proven themselves to be defensive masters from three-point range. The Rebels are 15th in Division-I for three-point defense, holding their opponents to just 29.2 percent from deep. This season Ole Miss has held their opponent to four or fewer three-pointers, nine times. In contrast, the Wildcats have only had two games this season where they hit four or fewer threes, both resulting in a loss.
Electricity bills might run a little higher on Saturday for Big 12 and SEC fans, as the K-State and Ole Miss match-up is just one of ten games on the slate for the Big 12/SEC challenge.
The Wildcats and the Rebels will face off for the first time since 2016. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m., with the game airing on ESPNU. A recap will be on the Collegian after the game.
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