In a battle of Big 12 heavyweight brands, the Kansas Jayhawks face the Arizona Wildcats on Thursday night. The winner punches a ticket to the Big 12 Tournament semifinals. The loser. Well, the loser is done.
This will be the second meeting between these two in the past week. It was only last Saturday that the Jayhawks bested the Wildcats in an 83-76 win on Kansas’ homecourt. In that one, Arizona struggled in the first half, scoring only 30 points, and while they ran up 46 in the second half, they also allowed 44. Despite that win for the Jayhawks, this game has a decidedly different set-up.
For starters, it’s not a home game for Bill Self’s crew. While the Big 12 tourney is being played in Kansas City, which helps with some home state support, it is a neutral site game. That’s not good news for Jayhawk backers. At home, they’ve been a tough out all season, racking up a 14-3 mark. When playing away from home, including in a neutral-site arena, or road games, they’ve stumbled to a very mediocre 7-8 record.
Add to that Kansas is fresh from a 98-94 overtime win over UCF last night. That was a tough game, with a lot of emotion and energy expended to get that victory in extra time. This will be the Wildcats first game of the tourney, as they secured a double bye into the quarterfinals.
Thai is a tough spot for a Jayhawk team that has not been overly impressive this season. In fact, it’s been quite the fall when you step back and remember they opened the campaign ranked #1 in the country. They’re now unranked. Now they have to face a rested Arizona team, while they’re playing their second of back-to-back games, with the first leg going into overtime. Oh, and the Wildcats will be looking for a measure of revenge for that recent loss in Lawrence.
Pick: Look for Arizona to outlast a Kansas team that, despite the loss last week, they’re a better team than on a neutral court. The Wildcats like to play at a fast pace, which should pay dividends late in this one, as they take advantage of some tired legs on the other side.
We’ll lay -2.5 and take Arizona.