The TCU Horned Frogs (11-3) and No. 22 Kansas Jayhawks (10-4) are set to face off on Tuesday night, going head-to-head at Allen Fieldhouse. The Big 12 showdown will tip off at 9 p.m. EST on ESPN.
The Jayhawks are 7.5-point favorites at home with -340 moneyline odds and the total has been set at 141.5 points. Here is a preview of the conference matchup featuring odds and lines from DraftKings Sportsbook.
TCU at Kansas Preview, Prediction
TCU Preview
The Horned Frogs opened their season with a four-point home loss to New Orleans. They have been far steadier since then, starting with their comfortable wins over Saint Francis and Lamar. TCU has lost two more games at home, but one was only by four points against No. 6 Michigan and the other was in overtime against Notre Dame. The Horned Frogs beat No. 10 Florida and Wisconsin in San Diego over Thanksgiving weekend, bolstering their resume with a pair of high-major wins. They are currently on a six-game winning streak, besting North Texas, Incarnate Word, Oral Roberts, Florida A&M, Jackson State and Baylor over that stretch.
Sophomore forward David Punch leads TCU with 14.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game. Providence transfer guard Jayden Pierre and JUCO transfer forward Xavier Edmonds, meanwhile, are each averaging 10.6 points per game. Both are shooting above 40% from three this season, although the former is attempting 4.6 triples per game and the latter is hoisting just 0.8. Sophomore forward Micah Robinson is the Horned Frogs’ other double-digit scorer with 10.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, despite coming off the bench in all 14 games. Iowa transfer Brock Harding, on top of his 8.8 points per game, leads TCU with 5.9 assists a night.
Although the Horned Frogs don’t rank high in many offensive stats, their scoring defense ranks No. 18 in the country. They also rank No. 15 in blocks and No. 85 in steals per game, all while their opponents rank bottom-75 in field-goal percentage.
TCU is currently ranked No. 53 in adjusted net efficiency, per KenPom. The Horned Frogs’ offense ranks No. 111, compared to their No. 20-ranked defense.
Kansas Preview
Through the first two months of the season, the Jayhawks have had a tough time against ranked opponents but took care of business against everyone else. Kansas beat Green Bay, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Princeton at home surrounding their 13-point road loss to No. 25 North Carolina. Following a 12-point loss to No. 5 Duke at Madison Square Garden, the Jayhawks swept Notre Dame, Syracuse and No. 17 Tennessee – and all without five-star star freshman Darryn Peterson, no less – at the Players Era Festival. Kansas lost by five to No. 5 UConn, but it beat Missouri by 20, snuck by NC State on the road in overtime and handled Towson and Davidson. And yet, the Jayhawks opened Big 12 play with a six-point road loss against UCF.
Peterson leads Kansas with 20.1 points per game, most recently dropping 26 against UCF. He is shooting 44.4% on 7.2 three-point attempts per game. Illinois transfer Tre White, Congolese sophomore Flory Bidunga and St. Bonaventure transfer Melvin Council Jr. are averaging 14.5, 14.2 and 13.4 points per game, respectively. Bidunga and White are averaging 9.1 and 7.3 rebounds per game, while Council Jr. is averaging a team-high 4.9 assists a night.
The Jayhawks rank No. 304 in offensive rebounds per game, but No. 6 in defensive rebounds. They also rank No. 4 in blocks per game, opponent field-goal percentage and opponent three-point percentage, leading to the No. 18 scoring defense in the country.
Kansas comes in at No. 18 in the KenPom adjusted net efficiency rankings. The Jayhawks boast the No. 54 offense and No. 9 defense, adjusted for opponent and pace.
TCU at Kansas Pick, Best Bet
Coming off a deflating loss against UCF, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Kansas lock in as it returns to Lawrence. However, it has only won by eight-plus points in three of its nine games against high-major opponents. TCU, on the other hand, hasn’t lost a game by more than four.
Both the Horned Frogs and Jayhawks rank outside the top-200 in opponent-adjusted tempo. Across Kansas’ nine games against high-major teams, five have cleared 141.5 total points. Three of those games were road games for the Jayhawks, while the other two were at neutral sites. Another required overtime to exceed that line, too. As for TCU, only two of its five games against high-major teams went over 141.5 points. One of those games was a showdown against an up-tempo Florida squad, while another went to overtime against Notre Dame.
Last year’s TCU-Kansas game finished with 135 total points. Only two of the last eight games between Bill Self and Jamie Dixon have cleared 141.5 total points, with one of those overs just barely hitting at 143 points.
