The Kansas Jayhawks are hosting the West Virginia Mountaineers tonight in a battle of Top 10 teams in college basketball. The game is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on ESPN2. Currently the betting odds for the game have the Jayhawks favored by a comfortable margin to pick up the win.
West Virginia leads the Big 12 standings, but tonight they are a big underdog at Kansas. The Mountaineers won the first game in this series, played in Morgantown, 74-63. They used pressure defense and forced Kansas into a tough game. Last year the game went into overtime in Lawrence, Kansas eventually got the win.
Tonight's game hinders on the availability of Jonathan Holton. He's the centerpiece of the team's pressure full-court defense and really makes the Mountaineers a great team. Without him they have won a pair of games over Iowa State and Baylor, but got blitzed by a decent Florida team on the road in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The last two wins over the Cyclones and Bears saw West Virginia score 81 and 80 points, respectively. It's going to take that type of offensive effort again tonight, especially if Holton continues to be suspended.
Kansas has a Top 5 RPI on the season, they've won all 13 games at home this season. That could be the difference tonight as the Jayhawks will be looking for big games from guards Wayne Selden Jr. and Frank Mason III. They will both be important against the full-court pressure defense from West Virginia.
The Mountaineers pose one of the biggest threats to win the Big 12 this season and dethrone Kansas, a loss here would bring the two schools to 8-3 in league play along with Oklahoma. As good as West Virginia has been all season and as well as they have played without Holton in the lineup the past two conference games, it's tough to see them winning in Lawrence.
Free Pick: Kansas
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