Texas Longhorns (17-13 SU 13-13 ATS) vs. Kansas Jayhawks (23-6 SU 15-13 ATS)
PAC 12
Date/Time: Monday, February 26, 2018 9:00 PM ET
Where: Allen Fieldhouse
TV: ESPN
by Rich Crew, Expert NCAA Handicapper, Predictem.com
Point Spread: TEX +10.5 / KU -10.5
Over/Under Total: 141
The Texas Longhorns travel to Kansas to take on the Jayhawks on Monday, February 26, 2018, at 9:00 PM on the floor at the Allen Fieldhouse. The NCAA betting board lists the Jayhawks as a large -10.5 point favorite on the point spread line with the total posted at 141 points.
Betting Preview
The Longhorns come into this game off a narrow 65-64 home win over Oklahoma State failing to get the money as a -5 betting favorite. The point spread loss by Texas was the fifth in their last six contests. Straight up they haven’t been much better with two wins over their last six, and excluding the two games versus the Sooners (a team that they own) the Longhorns have reached 70 points in regulation just once in their previous eight matches.
The Jayhawks may be playing their best basketball on the season pulling off four straight wins including a two-point road victory over a good Texas Tech team in their most recent. They’ve also been a solid bet covering three of the four games with the lone spread loss being by half a point to Iowa State. Over the win streak, Kansas has shown some consistency offensively scoring 74 plus points over the streak.
These two squads met back in December in Texas where the Longhorns found themselves on the wrong end of a 92-86 score failing to cover the plus four line. The victory by the Jayhawks was their eighth consecutive dating back to the 2014 season. The 178 points put up in the match was the first OVER result in six games after an O/U run of 4-0-1 in the previous five meetings.
Statistically Speaking
The Longhorns hold the edge on the glass and did outboard the Jayhawks in their December match 42-35. Defensively the overall numbers reflect a small advantage held by Texas in Big 12 games allowing 72.38 to compared to Kansas 74.94, but offensively the Jayhawks outscored the Longhorns by greater than eight points per game. The host also holds a significant edge in three-point scoring with a season average of 10.24 per game versus 6.86 by the visitor.
Texas at Kansas Against the Spread Pick
The final score in their first meeting this season was misleading. The Jayhawks were ahead by 14 with fewer than three minutes left in the game and coasted until the buzzer. Kansas destroyed Texas with their three-point game sinking 17 of 35 attempts. The host has registered a sizzling 43.1% from behind the arc at the Allen Fieldhouse this year, so I dont believe the odds are in the visitor’s favor for that changing tonight. The Longhorns also come into this game beat up and if F Mohamed Bamba (questionable with a toe injury) cant go the lineup will be missing three players who saw time in the first game and accounted for 39 of Texas 86 points. The 10.5 point spread is enormous and about seven more than I’m generally comfortable with, but Kansas can wrap up the number one seed in the Big 12 with a win in front of the home crowd tonight, and I think they can extend the margin over the undermanned visitor.
Take the Kansas Jayhawks -10.5