Texas Longhorns (19-11) vs #4 Kansas Jayhawks (25-5)
The Texas Longhorns are in a great position to make a final push for the NCAA tournament.
Saturday March 3
Allen Field House – Lawrence, KS
9:00PM
Moneyline: No money line currently listed
Spread: Kansas -11.5
O/U: 139.5
Texas
If they can beat Kansas on the road onSaturday it would be a huge statement and they have even more opportunities to show their worthiness in the Big 12 tourney where top teams Missouri and Baylor are also potentially waiting.
Is that realistic? Probably not, but they have played all three of those teams pretty tightly while compiling a 0-5 record against them .
I suppose some struggles were expected with a serious exodus of talent this year. Thankfully guard J’Covan Brown stuck around.
He is leading the Big 12 in scoring and is capable of putting the team on his back for stretches. His supporting cast is weak though, especially up front. It is hard to believe it, but the Longhorns have just one player over 6’7” on the roster.
That is going to make defending the Kansas frontcourt a big challenge.
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Kansas
I suppose that it is a measure of the success of the Kansas basketball program that even though most agree this is not a very good team (by program standards) they are still in line to receive a top seed in the tournament if they perform well over the next week.
They have just 5 losses on the season and other than a blip against Davidson none are all that damaging. This team is hot right now, on a 7 game winning streak entering the weekend.
Brown may be the top scorer but the Jayhawks have the top duo in power forward Thomas Robinson and point guard Tyshawn Taylor, who both average more than 17 points per game.
Both players have elevated their games this year with Robinson taking advantage of more opportunity and Taylor finally living up to his talent.
When they are on, there may not be a better inside-outside duo in America. Taylor is especially important to the Jayhawks chances of making this a season to remember.
Spread Pick: Texas +11.5
O/U Pick: Under
Score Prediction: Kansas 70 – Texas 60
