NCAA Tournament: Kansas vs Texas Southern 3/17/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds
Texas Southern Tigers (19-12) vs. Kansas Jayhawks (28-6)
March 17, 2022 9:57 pm EDT
The Line: Kansas Jayhawks -21.5 / Texas Southern Tigers +21.5; Over/Under: +144
(Get latest betting odds)
The Kansas Jayhawks and Texas Southern Tigers do battle Thursday night in the college basketball NCAA Tournament First Round at the Dickies Arena. The Texas Southern Tigers look for another win after beating Texas A&M-CC in the first four. The Kansas Jayhawks look to build on their five-game winning streak.
The Texas Southern Tigers are averaging 69 points on 43.6 percent shooting and allowing 66.6 points on 40.2 percent shooting. John Walker III is averaging 9.9 points and 4.3 rebounds, while Joirdon Karl Nicholas is averaging 9.2 points and 6 rebounds. PJ Henry is dishing 1.4 assists and Bryson Etienne is grabbing 2.9 rebounds. The Texas Southern Tigers are shooting 31.2 percent from beyond the arc and 66.4 percent from the free throw line. The Texas Southern Tigers are allowing 30.1 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 35.7 rebounds per game.
The Kansas Jayhawks are averaging 78.6 points on 48 percent shooting and allowing 68.6 points on 41.9 percent shooting. Ochai Agbaji is averaging 19.7 points and 5.1 rebounds, while Christian Braun is averaging 14.6 points and 6.4 rebounds. Jalen Wilson is the third double-digit scorer and David McCormack is grabbing 7.1 rebounds. The Kansas Jayhawks are shooting 36.1 percent from beyond the arc and 71.5 percent from the free throw line. The Kansas Jayhawks are allowing 29.7 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 35.1 rebounds per game.
The Tigers are 12-2-2 ATS in their last 16 neutral site games and 3-0-1 ATS in their last 4 games overall. The Jayhawks are 11-5 ATS in their last 16 Thursday games and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall. The over is 6-2 in Tigers last 8 overall. The over is 4-1 in Jayhawks last 5 neutral site games.
The Texas Southern Tigers are obviously outmatched here and don’t have the offensive horses to really scare Kansas, as they don’t have a single double-digit scorer. With that said, Texas Southern played several good teams this year and hung around despite the losses, and that includes a road win over Florida. Also, as good as the Kansas Jayhawks are, they only win by an average of 11.1 points in the favorite role. Kansas is also 17-16-1 against the spread on the year and 5-7 against the spread as a double-digit favorite. I’ll take a stab with the points.
