TCU
vs.
Kansas
College
Basketball
Pick with Analysis
2/21/15
Kansas is back at home, which is all bettors care about. The last time the road team covered at Allen Fieldhouse was all the way back on Dec. 5 when KU played Florida. The Jayhawks missed a push by one point. TCU is a feisty squad, but do they have a chance on the road?
The Horned Frogs haven’t had many good results on the road in the Big 12. They have lost three straight road Games by at least 17 points. Although before that stretch, fought WVU to overtime and actually beat Texas Tech by 20. In addition, TCU got a surprising 15-point home win over Oklahoma State on Saturday, a team that Kansas recently lost to.
Most of that probably won’t matter for the Jayhawks, though. The only home non-cover the Jayhawks have had in Conference play was a push, an unlucky 11-point win over KSU. Even with a big line, this is going to take a big effort from the Frogs to just get a cover here.
Interestingly enough, when these teams played less than a month ago in Fort Worth, the Horned Frogs put up a good fight and actually led at one point in the second half. All of that while shooting 30.6% from the field and 15-of-29 from the free-throw line. They grabbed 26 offensive rebounds, yet still didn’t have enough in the end to beat an overall better team. Getting 50 total rebounds will not be easy on the road, especially since Bill Self likely didn’t forget that Game. For his team to give up that many offensive rebounds, he probably wasn’t happy and it wouldn’t be surprising for him to bring that up before this Game.
The Horned Frogs have improved this year, there’s no doubt, but they are still a ways away from competing in the Big 12, hence their current standing in the conference. Kyan Anderson is the only Frog that averages double digits (13.1 ppg) and he’s playing worse than a season ago. His shooting rate is the worst of his career below 40%, as is his three-point shooting. They’ll need a big Game from him because it’s hard to see Kansas scoring just 64 points again.
Transfer Trey Zeigler along with a slew of freshmen have been a big improvement for this team, but none of them really have what it takes to break out at Kansas.
Frank Mason was the only player with more than eight points in that first Game and it’s hard to see that happening again. It’s likely Self will go with Perry Ellis and Cliff Alexander alongside each other in an effort to limit TCU’s offensive board opportunities. Ellis only played 15 minutes in the first meeting due to foul trouble and that was a main problem. In fact, the TCU Game was the least amount of minutes that Ellis has seen in Conference play by far. With him back to normal minutes in this Game, that changes a lot.
The Frogs will have to shoot much better in this Game to come close because winning the rebound battle may not be an option again. And in addition to Ellis, Wayne Selden has picked his Game up a ton since scoring only five points against TCU.
The Jayhawks still have their eye on a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tourney and don’t plan on this being a close Game, especially after losing a heartbreaker at West Virginia on Monday.
Our Prediction – Kansas by 20