BYU vs Kansas Prediction 2/18/25 College Basketball Picks Today

The Kansas Jayhawks and the BYU Cougars meet Tuesday in college basketball action from Marriott Center. Here’s a BYU vs Kansas prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best BYU vs Kansas pick.

Kansas Jayhawks Betting Preview

Kansas had a great run going into the middle of January, but they’ve been on quite a choppy run amid some tough matchups since then. The Jayhawks opened on a 12-3 run, falling to only Creighton, Missouri, and West Virginia in that time. The wins otherwise came versus Howard, North Carolina, Michigan State, Oakland, UNC Wilmington, Duke, Furman, NC State, Brown, UCF, Arizona State, and Cincinnati. Since then Kansas has gone just 5-5 over their last 10 outings. The losses were versus Iowa State, Houston, Baylor, Kansas State, and Utah. Otherwise, it was wins over Kansas State, TCU, UCF, Iowa State, and Colorado in that time. That gives the Jayhawks a 17-8 overall record through the first 25 games of the season.

In the Utah game on Saturday, the Jayhawks kicked off the first half with a two-point deficit. Kansas didn’t end up getting any closer than that, falling further behind on a 35-30 run and taking the eventual loss 74-67. Zeke Mayo led the team in the losing effort with his 15 points, six rebounds, three assists, and one steal. Dajuan Harris added 14 points with four rebounds and four assists, while Hunter Dickinson had 12 points with seven rebounds, four blocks, and three assists. Leading the team off the bench was Flory Bidunga with eight points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal in 20 minutes on the floor.

BYU Cougars Betting Preview

Over on the BYU side, they had a pretty rough run going last month but overall they’ve been pretty solid in the record column. The Cougars kicked things off on a 10-2 run with losses to Ole Miss and Providence amid wins otherwise versus Central Arkansas, UC Riverside, Queens U, Idaho, MS Valley State, NC State, Fresno State, Wyoming, Florida A&M, and Arizona State. A 1-4 run came next with a lone win over Oklahoma State amid losses to Houston, Texas Tech, TCU, and Utah. Since then it’s been a 6-2 stretch for BYU. The losses in that time were to Arizona and Cincinnati in consecutive games. Aside from that pair it was wins over Colorado, Cincinnati, Baylor, UCF, West Virginia, and Kansas State in that time. Overall through 25 games so far, BYU is currently 17-8 in the record books as well.

Matched up against Kansas State on Saturday, the Cougars were up 40-22 at the break. BYU kept the pace pretty well from there on a 43-40 deficit and took the win at the end 80-65. Richie Saunders led the way with his 17 points, 14 rebounds, two steals, and two assists for a double-double. Dallin Hal led the bench players with 16 points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals, while Fousseyni Traore had 11 points and four rebounds off the bench. Keba Keita chipped in nine points with 11 rebounds and five blocs as well.

Why the BYU Cougars will win

• The home team has won each of Kansas’ last six games.
• Kansas has lost four of its last five road games.
• BYU has won the first half in 14 of its last 15 games at Marriott Center.

Why the Kansas Jayhawks will win

• BYU has lost each of its last five games against AP-ranked opponents.
• Kansas has won each of its last four games following a road loss.
• Kansas has won the first half in eight of its last nine Tuesday night games against the Big 12 Conference.

Total Points Facts

• Seven of Kansas’ last eight road night games against Conference opponents have produced a total of 145 or fewer points.
• Four of BYU’s last five night games against AP-ranked opponents have produced a total of 149 or fewer points.

BYU vs Kansas Prediction

I’m going to take a stab at BYU here. The Cougars are coming off a nice win over a potentially dangerous Kansas State team, shooting 49.1 percent from the field with a 41-31 rebounding edge and 18 team assists. BYU did have 12 turnovers so it wasn’t a perfect game, but an important victory all the same. The Cougars have now scored a combined 153 points in consecutive wins, holding opponents below 70 points in both games as well.

As for Kansas, they held Utah to just 36.5 percent shooting in their latest game but still managed to lose, thanks mostly to 12 turnovers which turned into 22 Utes points. The Jayhawks have been on a wildly inconsistent run lately, and this will be another tricky road matchup. I’m not confident enough in Kansas these days to take them on a cover/win.