Since falling at home to the Baylor Bears for the first time in program history, the Kansas Jayhawks have been on a roll in winning five straight games while covering the closing college basketball odds at online sportsbooks four times. One of those wins and pointspread covers occurred in Austin a few weeks back when Bill Self’s squad scored the 66-57 triumph as 7.5-point favorites. Of the five wins, it proved to be the toughest to secure with the Horns taking a 5-point lead into the break before coming unraveled in the second half. Can Shaka Smart’s kids see it all the way through in the rematch? I’m betting they do; especially with KU in a prime letdown spot following Saturday’s huge home clash with the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
This Big Monday skirmish will take place on Monday, February 3, 2020. Tip-off will be at 9 p.m. ET from the Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, KS. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN. So make sure to fill out your March Madness Bracket today!
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The shock of letting the Jayhawks off the hook carried over into the Longhorns visit to Morgantown where it proceeded to get rolled up and smoked by West Virginia. When the dust cleared on that abomination of an effort, UT found itself on the wrong end of an ugly 38 point beat down. It did however bounce back the following game back home where it dropped a competitive 69-67 decision to the LSU Tigers in a pick ‘em game. Its inability to limit the Tigers guards or compete on the glass ultimately cost it once again. But then in prime buy low sell high fashion, Texas went on the road to TCU and scored a solid 62-61 outright win over the Horned Frogs as 4.5-point underdogs. Should it hold serve against Iowa State over the weekend, the Longhorns will invade Lawrence looking to win a third straight for the first time in Big 12 play.
The Jayhawks head into Saturday’s tilt with the Red Raiders on a roll having logged five straight wins to go along with four pointspread covers. It’s lone loss versus the linemakers came against a Tennessee Volunteers team it was laying double-digits to in a scenario they’ll likely be facing entering this Big Monday tilt with the Longhorns. Devon Dotson and his mates have however fared well in the home chalk role of at least 10 points in going 8-0 SU and a moneymaking 5-3 ATS with the three failures to cover the pointspread coming against the aforementioned Vols, West Virginia and East Tennessee State. With Udoka Azubuike and David McCormack likely to excel cleaning the glass in this matchup, they’ll be in a position to sweep the season rivalry from the Longhorns; but will they cover?
Recent Meeting
Kansas won and covered a game it likely shouldn’t have when these teams ran up against one another back on January 19 in the Frank C. Erwin Jr. Center. Led by the hot shooting of Jericho Sims and the stellar play of Andrew Jones in the first half, Texas went on to take a 31-26 lead with them into the break. The Horns would outscore Kansas 13-1 to claim the lead, while the defense limited Dotson and company to just nine points over the final 12 minutes of the first half. Then it all went to you know what! KU began the second half with an 8-0 burst fueled by a number of easy baskets from Azubuike. Still, Texas righted the ship late to tie the game at 54 apiece with fewer than five minutes remaining in the game. Then Kansas went on a 7-0 run of its own to retake control of the game, and sealed the deal at the charity stripe to cover the number. The win was the Jayhawks ninth in the last 10 meetings with the Longhorns (5-5 ATS).
Prediction
Texas proved to me that they could hang with the Jayhawks in the first meeting provided they play a sound brand of ball over the course of the game’s entirety. If they go on any sort of scoring drought, it’ll be tough to compete all the way through as evidenced by the first matchup. Regardless of the fact that Kansas simply had its way in the paint outscoring the Longhorns 40-30 and also won the battle of the boards 40-29, I’ll be taking the points in the rematch. Playing with same season revenge and Kansas returning to its home floor off a likely all-out war with Texas Tech from Saturday, I question how much Kansas will have left in the tank to topple what’s destined to be an inflated impost against a Longhorns team that showed they could play with them in spurts the first go round. Hold your nose and take the points!
College Basketball Pick: Kansas 74, Texas 69
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