Texas Longhorns vs. No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks: Preview, Betting Odds, How to Watch

The Texas Longhorns will visit the No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday.

Author:
Zach Dimmitt
Feb 23, 2024 10:24 AM EST

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AUSTIN -- The Texas Longhorns will make their final scheduled trip to Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday when they visit the No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks in what is the only meeting of the regular season between the two conference rivals.

Texas (17-9, 6-7 Big 12) took care of Kansas State in a 62-56 win on Monday. The win marked just the third home win in Big 12 play for the Longhorns, who have also won three roads games in conference. They'll aim for similar road fortune at "The Phog" on Saturday. The Jayhawks are 14-0 at home this season.

Kansas (20-6, 8-5 Big 12) handled then-No. 25 Oklahoma last week in a 67-57 road win. The Jayhawks boast the top-two scorers in the conference, as guard Kevin McCullar Jr. (19.0 points) and center Hunter Dickinson (18.2 points) are a duo that's capable of leading KU to the Final Four.

TYRESE HUNTER KANSAS — © William Purnell, USA TODAY

However, McCullar reportedly tweaked a knee injury against Oklahoma, and Kansas coach Bill Self made it seem as if his star guard is on the wrong side of questionable.

“No, I do not [know if he’ll be available on Saturday],” Self said. “He hasn’t done anything yet this week. So we’ll probably wait and see if he’s able to do anything today. Today will probably determine if he plays on Saturday as much as anything. But I probably won’t tell you guys that.”

Texas guard Max Abmas is the Big 12's third-leading scorer at 16.9 points per game, but has posted his only two single-digit scoring games of the season over the Longhorns' past two contests. He passed the 3,000-point mark against Kansas State.

Longhorns forward Dylan Disu scored a game-high 20 points in Monday's win over K-State. At 17.1 points per game, he's technically Texas' leading scorer but hasn't played in 75 percent of the team's game so doesn't qualify. This mark would be good for third in the Big 12 ahead of Abmas, meaning the Longhorns and Jayhawks essentially combine to boast four of the top five scorers in the conference.

The Longhorns are right on the 8-9 seed line in most current NCAA Tournament projections. A loss to the Jayhawks wouldn't hurt them, but there's a major opportunity to move further away from the bubble with what would be a massive win.

"We definitely feel like every game going forward for us is an NCAA Tournament game," Disu said Monday. "Every game the committee is going to look at for our resume for whether or not we can get in. So we want to treat every game like it's our last game. And if we lose, then we're out of the tournament. So that's kind of the attitude we had going into tonight."

The Longhorns have won five of the last seven meetings with Kansas, including a blowout win in Austin to close the regular season last year before another dominant win over the Jayhawks in the Big 12 Championship.