The Kansas Jayhawks have not been as dominant of a team as in past years, but are still just a game out of the Big 12 lead coming down the stretch of the regular season. The West Virginia Mountaineers are also in the race as they both chase Texas Tech. The Jayhawks and Mountaineers will face off in a critical game this week that will bring more clarity in the push for the conference crown.
West Virginia looked like a possible national championship contender midway through the season but has fallen off of late. The Mountaineers would love to move up the rankings and improve their prospective NCAA Tournament seeding with a win over Kansas.
The Jayhawks have the slightly better record and have the home court advantage so they will be a solid favorite in this key conference showdown.
At 6 p.m. ET, tune into ESPN for live television coverage of this NCAA basketball game on Saturday, February 17, 2018, at Allen Fieldhouse.
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Odds Analysis
West Virginia is 18-7 straight up and 10-12 against the spread. The Mountaineers have covered in four of their seven attempts against the spread on the year. West Virginia has only been the underdog twice this season but has covered in both of those games.
Kansas is 19-6 straight up and 12-12 against the spread. The Jayhawks have covered in six of their 14 attempts at home on the year. Kansas is 11-11 against the spread as the favorite.
Last Meeting
Kansas trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half against West Virginia before battling back in the second to defeat the Mountaineers 71-66 on January 15th. West Virginia led by 13 points at halftime but was outscored 43-25 by Kansas in the second half in that first meeting.
Senior guard Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk finished with 17 points for Kansas in the win and Devonte’ Graham had 16. Most of Mykhailiuk and Graham’s points came in that critical second half as the accounted for 20 of the the last 26 points for the Jayhawks in the upset.
Sagaba Konate finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds for West Virginia. Esa Ahmad added 15 points off the bench for the Mountaineers.
Scheduling Situation
Kansas had a nice showing against West Virginia in that first meeting but has been up-and-down against ranked opponents as a whole this season. The will now head into a stretch of three straight games against Top 25 teams, two of which have already beaten the Jayhawks once this season.
After facing West Virginia, the Jayhawks take on No. 23 Oklahoma at home and then head to Lubbock for a showdown against No. 7 Texas Tech. Kansas lost to Oklahoma 85-80 on January 23rd and was defeated by Texas Tech in early January by a score of 85 -73.
The Jayhawks also fell to No. 16 Arizona State back in January. They have a record of 3-3 against Top 25 teams coming into this stretch with wins over No. 7 Kentucky and No. 16 TCU.
Free NCAA Men’s Basketball ATS Picks
The Big 12 has been filled with parity this season and Kansas will have a chance to overtake Texas Tech down the road in their head-to-head showdown if it can navigate these next couple of stiff challenges unblemished.
The Jayhawks will get a big boost from playing at home and should be able to knock off West Virginia, but don’t expect it to be easy. Take the Mountaineers to cover the spread while the “over” should be in play in a matchup that could be a lot of fun to watch.
NCAA Men’s Basketball Odds: Kansas 86, West Virginia 83
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