TCU Horned Frogs vs Kansas Jayhawks Predictions: Rein in the Running
The Kansas Jayhawks begin conference play at home today against the opponent who had the most surprising result against them last season: The TCU Horned Frogs. They were the only team to beat the Jayhawks at home last season, and it wasn't particularly close.
Lucky for Kansas, both of these teams are completely different this season. But with TCU a bit untested and playing a completely different style than the Jayhawks, will they be able to come into Allen Fieldhouse again and throw Kansas off their game? Or will the Jayhawks use their advantages at each position well to end any suspense in this one early?
Do you disagree with our assessment? Make sure you read them all and then hope over to the Discord or on Twitter to share your own thoughts.
Kyle Davis
Check out our TCU Preview for Kyle's full breakdown and prediction.
Derek Noll
We’re going to see old friend Ernest Udeh for the first time and the former KU big man happens to be coming off his best game as a Horned Frog, scoring 13 points and grabbing 18 rebounds in TCU’s recent win against Texas A&M- Commerce. Good for him, but I hope he scores no points, gets zero rebounds, and fouls out against KU while tearing up all other opponents. Have at it Ern, just not tonight. As for the Horned Frogs themselves, the team has 11 wins but none of them have come against good competition and that’s about to change when TCU gets a good opponent almost every time out the rest of the way. One thing we know is that Jamie Dixon will have his team ready, but I just don’t think they have the horses to take down the Jayhawks in Allen Fieldhouse who just so happen to be coming off one of their most impressive team performances of the season.
Kansas 86, TCU 66.
Brendan Dzwierzynski
Derek is right about TCU not having any signature wins so far this season, but I think they could be a sneaky dangerous team in the Big 12 when it’s all said and done. The Horned Frogs are just so old. That many veteran, experienced guys is a dangerous combination. I also love this matchup as KU’s first Big 12 test. TCU plays fast and wants to run, and that will be a great test for this Jayhawks group. Can this KU group take care of the ball enough to avoid giving TCU transition opportunities? Can this shallow Jayhawks rotation keep up for 40 minutes with Big 12 competition, let alone a program that plays with tons of pace (to the tune of 32nd in the country in adjusted tempo, per Kenpom)? It should be a great test, and I like Kansas to rise to the challenge and earn the win. A superstar defensive effort from Kevin McCullar like we saw in Fort Worth last season would be nice, too.
Kansas 77, TCU 68.
Andy Mitts
TCU needs to get out running early before the Jayhawks are ready to do the same. They love to play fast, and if Kansas get ready for it, they can run with the best of them. But as we’ve seen multiple times, if you speed up the Jayhawks when they don’t want to be, they have turnover issues. Add to that a strong presence on the boards and TCU has the potential to make this a sneaky good game. And a team this quick is really good at clogging up passing lanes.
But Kansas has a secret weapon in KJ Adams, who may be the best interior passer in the nation. His ability to play all over the court and that passing ability means that the Jayhawks use a lot of untraditional passing lanes, which makes it much harder to rely on jumping into those lanes to stop your opponent. Add in all the other weapons that Kansas has, and it is hard to see TCU pulling this one out.
Kansas 79, TCU 71.
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