Baylor Bears vs. Kansas Jayhawks College Basketball prediction, preview
Kansas has been a team I’ve faded often this season, especially on the road. I even got away with fading them at home against UConn earlier in the season, and the Huskies prevailed — the only team to win at Allen Fieldhouse this season. However, I also backed Iowa State when the Cyclones came to Lawrence on Tuesday, and the Jayhawks picked up their most convincing win of the season.
While I’ll still play against KU when it plays true road games in the conference, I’m not planning to go against the Jayhawks at home anytime soon. Kansas should be able to take some of the momentum from a dominant 21-point victory over the Cyclones and use that to fuel them to another hot start at The Phog. The crowd should be buzzing for this one, coming off an upset of No. 2 overall, and with a rare Friday night home game.
Meanwhile, Baylor picked up its first road win of the season on Tuesday against Oklahoma State. While it was nice to see, the Bears were unconscious in that game, hitting 13 triples and shooting nearly 60% from the field for the game. That’s not going to be replicated in a Friday night game at The Phog, particularly against Kansas’ top-15 ranked defense.
Another issue for the Bears should come on the defensive side of the ball, where KenPom barely has them ranked in the top-100. The Jayhawks picked up a ton of steam offensively on Tuesday, dropping 84 points on what, at the time, ranked as the second-best defense in the country.
I like the Jayhawks to come out confident off their best game of the season, and fueled by the crowd, go on to win wire to wire. I’ll back Kansas on the halftime/fulltime line, which means to lead at halftime and win the game. Other shops have this market priced in the -190 range, but DraftKings Sportsbook is priced at a much more affordable -155.
