Kansas vs. Texas Tech College Basketball prediction, preview
Don’t look now, but the Kansas Jayhawks are on a bit of a roll. Since losing their second conference road game in as many tries to West Virginia, Kansas has ripped off five straight wins, covering the spread in each of them. After that tough 1-3 start in true road games, the Jayhawks have improved to 3-3 on the road with wins and covers at Colorado and Kansas State.
That said, Texas Tech is not Colorado or Kansas State. The Red Raiders are a perfect 11-0 at home, including their most recent two wins coming over the class of the conference in BYU and Houston. Tech should come into this one playing with an edge, fresh off a Saturday afternoon loss to UCF in Florida. I’m expecting the offense to be crisp off the loss and fueled by the home crowd, and the Red Raiders have a lot of ways that they can score.
JT Toppin is one of the best players in the country, and should be matched up with one of the top defensive players in Flory Bidunga. Toppin fouled out in just 22 minutes in his matchup against the Jayhawks last season, but Tech won the game, and he scored 21 points, despite the limited role. If Toppin can reverse the script this time around and get Bidunga into some foul trouble, that would be massive for the home team.
When Toppin isn’t getting his own on offense, he has terrific shooters to swing the ball to. The trio of Christian Anderson, Donovan Atwell and Jaylen Petty combined to shoot over 40% from downtown on the season. I expect them to step it up in this game after below average shooting at UFC. The Red Raiders also have an advantage on the offensive glass in this game, and those potential extra possessions should prove to be crucial.
We also get Kansas coming off a massive win on Saturday at home against BYU. The Jayhawks raced out to a 21-point lead behind a huge first half from Darryn Peterson, but only led by four points in the final minute, before ultimately pulling away. Peterson did all of his damage in the first half, and barely played in the second half — once again, sitting on the sidelines with his legs wrapped. Now just two days later, Peterson is off the injury report, but just how healthy will he be? Peterson has had a tough time finishing games, and having to adjust to losing him in-game can be difficult for the Jayhawks — which we saw during BYU’s comeback that fell short.
Spot-wise this all sets up nicely for Texas Tech at home. I’ll lay the points with the Red Raiders.
