Game of the Day
Kansas at Kansas State
Kansas Jayhawks at Kansas State Wildcats (-3,5, OFF)
Ninth-ranked Kansas attempts to match its recent performance against Kansas State when the Jayhawks venture west to face the Wildcats in Monday?s Big 12 contest. The first-place Jayhawks have won nine of their last 10 games and one of the victories was an 86-60 demolition of Kansas State on Jan. 11. The Wildcats are tied for fourth place in the conference race and enter the rematch on a high note after routing red-hot Texas 74-57 on Saturday.
Freshman guard Marcus Foster poured in 34 points in the victory over the Longhorns, the most by a Kansas State freshman since Michael Beasley scored 39 against the Jayhawks late in the 2007-08 campaign. Kansas shot 56.1 percent from the field and committed just seven turnovers in last month?s victory over the Wildcats, but coach Bill Self sees no carryover effect. ?I?m sure that they?re doing some things a little differently than they did the first game,? Self said after Saturday?s victory over West Virginia. ?I really think the score of the first game is totally irrelevant.?
TV: 9 p.m. ET, ESPN
LINE HISTORY: The line opened with Kansas as 3.5-point faves. The total is currently off the board.
COVERS POWER RANKINGS: Kansas (-16.9) - Kansas State (-9.3) + home court (-3) = Kansas -4.3
INJURY WATCH: Kansas: Conner Frankamp (Questionable, knee). Kansas State: N/A.
WHAT BOOKS SAY: "The line will be Jayhawks -4 and we expect Kansas to be a very popular play with bettors, not only because they are a team ranked in the Top 10, but they have both won and covered 9 of 10 against their intrastate rival," says Mike Perry of Sportsbook.
WHAT SHARPS SAY: "I'm not going to cream Kansas for running into the Texas buzz saw last Saturday. That was their second trip to the Lone Star State in a week and came off a grueling win over Iowa State. The Jayhawks are still 15-5 ATS in their last 20 Big 12 games," says Doc's Sports.
WHY BET KANSAS (18-5, 12-10-1 ATS): The Jayhawks are expecting to see an angry bunch of Wildcats after the beatdown they delivered on Kansas State in Lawrence. ?I feel like going in, we?re expecting the worst, expecting a hostile environment, expecting not to get any calls,? guard Wayne Selden Jr. told reporters. ?But we?ll battle through it.? Selden scored 17 points and made five 3-pointers in the victory over West Virginia and has raised his average to 10.5, fourth on the team behind guard Andrew Wiggins (16 per game), forward Perry Ellis (13) and center Joel Embiid (10.9).
WHY BET KANSAS STATE (16-7, 13-7-1 ATS): Foster made 13-of-16 shots in his epic performance against Texas to raise his team-best scoring average to 14.7. That type of efficiency was pleasing to the coaching staff as well as Foster as the talented guard was shooting just 40.1 percent entering the contest. ?Just going back through film, I realize I take some questionable shots,? Foster said after joining Beasley and Mike Evans (1974-75) as the only Kansas State freshmen to score 30 in a game. ?I just wanted to limit the questionable shots and take better shots.?
TRENDS:
* Home team is 9-2 ATS in the last 11 meetings.
* Kansas is 11-3 ATS in the last 14 meetings at Kansas State.
* Kansas is 26-8 ATS in the last 34 meetings.
* Favorite is 26-8 ATS in the last 34 meetings.[/QUOTE]
