Horned Frogs at Jayhawks: Game Predictions

Kansas is fresh off a disappointing road trip that included two losses and saw them fall behind Baylor in the conference race. TCU comes into Lawrence and tries to get a second straight victory over KU. The Blue Wings Rising crew tells you what you should expect to happen.

The Kansas Jayhawks have burned through all the extra cushion that they had in the race for Big 12 regular season title, thanks to two road losses in the last two games. 

It's a super quick turnaround for Kansas, but their opponent tonight has already gotten the big win they needed to secure their own NCAA Tournament berth. The TCU Horned Frogs come into Lawrence fresh off of back-to-back Top 10 wins and are dealing with the same quick turnaround that the Jayhawks are.

Can the Jayhawks bounce back from their losses and ensure that they still have a shot to secure at least a share of a Big 12 title? Or does TCU bully the Jayhawks down low for the second consecutive game and start a panic amongst the Kansas faithful? Our crew gets together to tell you what we think you can expect to see tonight.

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Brendan Dzwierzynski: Well, I struck out big time with the “KU doesn’t lose after losses” strategy on Tuesday, but maybe my endless optimism will pan out this time. I’m confident that KU won’t play nearly as terrible this time around against TCU, given how bad Tuesday was, but it’s going to require Ochai Agbaji not having his worst game of the year again and someone showing even base-level competence on the boards. If you want a share of the Big 12 title, you better take care of business tonight.

Kansas 77, TCU 74

Derek Noll: I took too swung and missed in the last prediction post, but that won’t stop me from proclaiming that Kansas will win this time. Perhaps all KU needs is a big bucket of incentive, and if winning this game and getting a share of the title with a home win on the weekend isn’t incentive, then find a park and spend time there in mid-March because it will be more productive than watching KU. After a subpar performance in game one, I think Agbaji will come out blazing and fuel KU to victory.

Kansas 74, TCU 68

Kyle Davis: I think we were all caught off guard by Tuesday’s performance given the circumstances. But in addition to what Brendan and Derek said, one of the (many) reasons Bill Self is a hall of fame coach is his adjustments, both in game and from matchup to matchup. That’s why it’s so rare that teams beat Kansas twice in a season. If you get KU in the first matchup one way, Self will make sure you have to find another way to win the second time around, because he’s going to take the first way away. I think pride kicks in so KU doesn’t get so completely outmanned on the boards and the Jayhawks hit more shots and keep the Big 12 title hopes alive heading into Saturday.

Kansas 72, TCU 66

Lucas Murphy: The Kansas Jayhawks have gone on the road for back-to-back games and they have lost in both those games. They return home to Allen Fieldhouse tonight to take on TCU in front of a packed home crowd. The Jayhawks are only a 0.5 game out of first place and are trying to earn a No. 1 overall seed in the March Madness Tournament. The Jayhawks will need to take better shots and work through David McCormack. I anticipate a win.

Kansas 75, TCU 71

Andy Mitts: As I said on the podcast with Derek, I just don’t know how much of Tuesday’s loss you can chalk up to Kansas just not performing and how much was TCU actively shutting them down. 

What has become clear to me is that David McCormack is not effective at all right now. I don’t know if the problem is the matchups, his health (remember the foot injury that Bill Self talked about a few weeks ago) or just that he didn’t perform well.

I’m worried about the ability of Big Dave to get going tonight, so I expect to see Zach Clemence get an opportunity to show what he can do. But the real key to this game is going to be Jalen Wilson. He started hot in the last game but inexplicably disappeared. He can do things in the slashing game that should take pressure off of Agbaji and Christian Braun, which is going to be super important to get Kansas back on track. The Jayhawks are going to be ANGRY, so I expect a big win.

Kansas 87, TCU 67