NCAA basketball on Thursday afternoon and it is the Quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament. In this matchup we will see the Oklahoma State Cowboys take on the Kansas Jayhawks at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The game has a start time of 2:30 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN 2. Vegas odds have the Jayhawks listed as 2.5 point favorites, while the total sits at 148.
Stat Pack: The Kansas Jayhawks come in as the #1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. The Jayhawks went 23-8 overall and 14-4 in the Big 12. They do come in struggling some as they have dropped 2 of their last 3 games of the regular season. The Jayhawks have a high powered offense that averages 79.6 ppg, which is 24th in the nation. They shoot the ball very well, hitting 49.7% of their shots, which is 6th in the nation. The Jayhawks are led by super freshman Andrew Wiggins, who averages a 16.8 ppg, while Perry Ellis is second on the team in scoring at 13.2 ppg. The Jayhawks were dealt a big blow with Joel Embiid expected to miss two weeks of action. He shot 62.6% from the floor for 11.2 ppg, while leading the team in rebounding at 8.1 rpg. Those numbers will be missed. On defense the Jayhawks are pretty average, allowing 69.7 ppg on 41.3% shooting. They do struggle defending the 3 ball, allowing teams to hit 35.4% from long range, which is 242nd in the nation.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys took care of TCU in the first round to reach this quarterfinal game vs Kansas. The win now has the Cowboys ay 21-11 on the year, but still they may need to win this game to get in invite to the NCAA Tournament. The Cowboys average a healthy 80.7 ppg (16th) on 46.8% shooting overall (55th), 37.1% from long range (71st) and 72.4% from the charity stripe (84th). The offense runs through Marcus Smart and Markel Brown, who average 17.9 and 17.2 ppg respectively, while Le'Bryan Nash (14.0 ppg) and Phil Forte (13.2 ppg) also score in double figures for the Cowboys. This is not a great rebounding team (148th), but still 4 players average at least 5.5 rpg, led by Kamari Murphy's 6.2 rpg. Defensively, this s a solid team that allows 68.8 ppg (143rd) on just 40.5% shooting, which is 43rd in the nation.
Pick: Gonna go with the Cowboys in this one. They need this game much more and are playing probably the best ball in the Big 12 right now. The Jayhawks will miss Embiid and they havent been playing well of late, having lost 2 of their last 3. Gotta feel that they will be looking to just get out of this tournament healthy and set their sights on the big dance.
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