Subscribe
Follow Us
The Kansas Jayhawks take on the West Virginia Mountaineers. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Kansas West Virginia prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Kansas West Virginia.
The Kansas Jayhawks look like the No. 1 team in the country. They look the part of a defending national champion and a program which reloads instead of rebuilding. Sure, the Jayhawks lost several pieces of their national championship roster from last season, but they had luminous, promising young talents waiting in the wings, players who got bench minutes last season and learned under the veterans before getting their turn. It's the same as the dynamic at great college football programs such as Alabama. The young pups don't make the leap all at once, but they see how the upperclassmen conduct themselves. They get a measure of playing time to sharpen their skills. Then they throw themselves into offseason preparation and hit the ground running when the next regular season begins. This crop of Kansas players has worked through early-season bumps in the road, hasn't suffered more than one loss, and looks like a group which can win in different ways in March.
Kansas came back from a 15-point halftime deficit to beat Oklahoma State, but that's the only time in the past five games this team has truly struggled. The Jayhawks crushed Indiana by 22, beat a good Missouri team by 28, and just won in Lubbock against Texas Tech, which is really hard to do. Everything is coming together — again — for Bill Self.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Kansas-West Virginia College Basketball odds.
College Basketball Odds: Kansas-West Virginia Odds
Kansas Jayhawks: -1.5 (-115)
West Virginia Mountaineers: +1.5 (-105)
Over: 142.5 (-110)
Under: 142.5 (-110)
How To Watch Kansas vs. West Virginia
TV: Big 12 Network/ESPN+
Stream: ESPN+
Article Continues Below
Time: 6:00 p.m. ET, 3:00 p.m. PT
*Watch Kansas-West Virginia LIVE with fuboTV (Click for free trial)*
Why Kansas Could Cover the Spread
This team is trustworthy. Kansas wins games late. It wins games early. It blows teams out of the box but can rally when it has to and can fend off good opponents as it showed when it beat Texas Tech down the stretch in Lubbock. Jalen Wilson is averaging over 20 points and 8 rebounds per game. He is performing like a star. Dajuan Harris is dishing out 6.5 assists per game and is doing a fantastic job of facilitating the offense. If this game becomes really close and Kansas needs a basket, Wilson and Harris are very reliable players. When you realize that the spread is very close to a pick 'em, Kansas just needs to win the game to (most likely) cover the spread. Barring a scenario in which KU wins by just one point, the Jayhawks have earned the benefit of the doubt much more than West Virginia has. KU has Wilson and Harris; WVU doesn't have equivalent players.
Why West Virginia Could Cover the Spread
The Mountaineers are 0-2 in the Big 12 and know they need a big-time win to not only get back into the conference race, but more essentially and centrally, make a case for their inclusion in the NCAA Tournament. This is a desperate, win-at-all-costs game for the Mountaineers, the kind of game in which an underdog and a generally inferior team throws everything at an elite opponent on its home court. This scenario often creates upsets in college basketball, and whereas some upsets truly come out of nowhere, this one certainly would not. The Big 12 is a tough, deep, difficult conference. You're not going to see Kansas go unbeaten in the conference. This is a natural spot to pick — and expect — an upset because of the urgency of the moment for West Virginia on its home floor.
Final Kansas-West Virginia Prediction & Pick
Stay away from this one. It's easy to see either side winning, but hard to ultimately come down on one side. No one should be shocked if West Virginia wins.
Final Kansas-West Virginia Prediction & Pick: Kansas -1.5
