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The sixth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks are slated to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Basketball Tournament at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. The Mountaineers are coming off of a rather disappointing 2021-2022 season that saw them finish last in the conference with a 16-16 (4-14) regular-season record. Despite the less than mediocre campaign, West Virginia put together a solid outing against Kansas State in the first round of the tournament, prevailing by a score of 73-67. The Jayhawks are entering postseason play with another typical top 10 finish that included a share with Baylor for the Big 12 regular-season title. Kansas currently has a record of 25-6 (14-4) and will be hunting for their 26th victory of the season in this Big 12 skirmish. It is time to take a closer look at this matchup in our college basketball odds series with a West Virginia Kansas prediction and pick.
In recent years, the Mountaineers have been one of the more premier teams in the Big 12, including 20-win seasons in 2019-2020, and a four-year stretch from 2014-2017 where WVU was a dark-horse national championship contender. However, that was then, and this is now. The Mountaineers, led by long-time coach Bob Huggins, is playing for pride at this point in Kansas City, and they would love nothing more to spoil the Jayhawks parade with an upset victory.
As for the mighty Jayhawks, the Big 12 Co-Champs made up for their uninspiring non-conference slate by marching their way through the regular season schedule with notable wins against quality teams such as Texas Tech, Baylor, and Texas.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the West Virginia-Kansas odds:
Big-12 Tournament Odds: West Virginia-Kansas Odds
West Virginia: +10.5 (-110)
Kansas: -10.5 (-110)
Over: 146.5 (-110)
Under: 146.5 (-110)
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Why West Virginia Could Cover the Spread
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During the two matchups between both schools, the Jayhawks took care of the Mountaineers handily by limiting them to 27% shooting in an 85-57 blowout loss in the first contest and then once again suffocating the WVU offense to an almost identical number at 28% on Feb. 19th. Obviously, if the Mountaineers want to play spoiler against Kansas, they have to find a way more efficient way to find buckets compared to their previous two matchups. In West Virginia's recent win vs Kansas State on Wednesday, the Mountaineers couldn't have been more methodical on offense, as they hummed to the beat of a 52% mark from the floor and out-rebounded the Cats 33-28.
West Virginia has been streaky and mostly inconsistent offensively for the most part, but don't count the Mountaineers' supreme experienced guard play, which is as good as any. Senior Sean McNeil was a walking bucket 24 hours ago, abusing the Wildcats with 21 points on 7-10 from the field and 3-5 from trey land. Even more impressive was the fact leading scorer and fellow backcourt teammate Taz Sherman was just a tad off, putting up only 9 points and finishing the game shooting only 17% from three. Don't count on a similar day in the office for Sherman, as his 18.0 PPG is the 67th best among the nation in scoring. WVU's only chance to cover the spread is to shoot lights out once again like they did against Kansas State.
Why Kansas Could Cover the Spread
While WVU has nothing to lose playing this matchup, the pressure is on for KU, as the Jayhawks will be using the conference tournament in hoping to spring themselves as a potential number one seed in the big dance. Believe it or not, Kansas' season was off to a slow start prior to their first meeting against the Mountaineers, as the team chemistry and flow on both offense and defense was lacking. All it took was a January shellacking at the hands of West Virginia for the Jayhawks to get right, and they haven't looked back since.
After playing four games in eight days to wrap up regular season play including an absolute thriller overtime win against the Texas Longhorns on March 5th, the Jayhawks should be well-rested. With the added rest, look for Kansas to be aggressive early and to play with a sense of urgency. Kansas also had the honor of having two players on the All-Big 12 team that included first-teamer Ochai Agbaji and second-teamer Christian Braun, as both have played pivotal roles in transforming KU into national title contenders. Kansas is a well-oiled machine on offense when they are at their best, as they average 78.6 PPG and shoot an absurd 48% from the field.
Final West Virginia-Kansas Prediction & Pick
Although West Virginia has played Kansas tight in certain moments throughout the season, the Jayhawks' all-around firepower has usually been too much to overcome for the Mountaineers. When you factor in that the game will also be played in front of thousands of KU fans in the heart of Kansas City, you begin to realize that it will be an uphill battle if an upset is going to take place. With the much-needed rest that the Jayhawks are given being one of the top seeds in the conference tournament, expect Kansas to play at a higher tempo, gassing and tiring out West Virginia come the second half. Kansas will cover the -10.5 spread and continue their pursuit of a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Final West Virginia-Kansas Prediction & Pick: Kansas -10.5 (-110)
