Kansas State Wildcats vs. Kansas Jayhawks Prediction & Game Preview - 2/22/2022

Time: 9 p.m. ET

Venue: Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, KS

Where to watch: ESPN

DraftKings: Kansas -12

BetMGM: Kansas -12.5

Caesars: Kansas -12

Kansas State: 14-12 (6-8 Big 12)

No. 5 Kansas: 22-4 (11-2 Big 12) 

The Kansas State Wildcats are not going to do much for the remainder of the season, nor can we ever expect them to really do anything competitive at all for possibly the foreseeable future. Do we have evidence to back that up? Probably not but it just seems that way given the current state of the Big 12.

Because let's face it. When you're talking about a team that has only won two more games than they've played and things don't seem to be going right for you, I really don't think there's much air space to actually give a team that's probably going to lose by 25 to their in-state rival on Tuesday, but I digress I suppose.

Kansas State is coming off a 3 point overtime loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday. If not for a game-winning three-pointer with less than five seconds to go at the hands of Avery Anderson from the Cowboys, Kansas State might have had an actual chance to win a game it could have desperately used on the actual Ledger.

Because how much nicer would have been if we're looking at Monday and seeing that Oklahoma State is taking the Baylor bears down to the wire, and Kansas State could have beaten the team that beat Baylor? again I digress to say that Baylor has not been so great during conference season so it really doesn't matter to the naked eye. But alas Kansas State, after getting 16 points on 16 shots from Nijel Pack, isn't really getting much from anyone across the board.

Kansas State is just not a good team and that's just the reality we need to face. For a group that started with eight wins in its first eleven games, only to completely fall flat throughout the course of conference play, it really has not been a good time. And considering the schedule that the Wildcats have in front of them to close out this dreaded regular season, things aren't gonna be any better.

And meanwhile here are the Kansas Jayhawks, the 5th best team in the country, sometimes not playing like it at times and yet here they are still one of the better teams in the country. College basketball remains a weird mythical construct that I will never understand even after I die.

But the one thing that I will always continue to understand with Kansas is that this is the time of year where things tend to go the right way for The Jayhawks. And right now, is there any team in the Big 12 that can actually stop them? I really don't think so.

And when you get past the fact that they could win the Big 12 championship once again for the three millionth time under head coach bill self, Kansas may not have enough in the tank to actually win a national championship, but The Jayhawks are absolutely going to try their hardest to make things competitive late into the season.

Kansas is coming in on a 3 game winning streak after defeating West Virginia by 13 points on Saturday. Ochai Agbaji led the way with 23 points, continuing to be Kansas’ most important player at this point in the season while David McCormack had 19 points and 11 rebounds for another strong Kansas victory.

I've talked about this before but it continues to ring true the more Kansas wins this time of year. We are getting to the point of the season where Kansas is just doing this too laugh at all of us. Because we could take one game off from actually believing that they're going to be a very good team, only for them to strive back to being just a ridiculous juggernaut at the right time.

This team has so much talent and so much depth that even though they might not be the most dangerous team in the field of 68, you just know that Kansas will find a way to make a deep run regardless of what many may think they will do. And if it keeps up this way, Kansas will be at the forefront at the end of this whole ordeal.

It's another week where I don't think you need to think very hard about who's going to win this matchup, and I strongly believe that Kansas State will just look overmatched compared to Kansas. The Jayhawks just have much more depth and can beat teams either from the outside or in the paint. If the Wildcats even remotely keep this one close, more power to them, but I just don't see it happening that way. Kansas by 18

Kansas State is 10-3 ATS as an underdog this season.

Kansas State is 238-211 ATS against conference opponents since 1997.

Kansas is 374-352 ATS as a favorite since 1997.

Kansas is 0-6 ATS this season after allowing 65 points or less the previous two games.

PG: Markquis Nowell

SG: Nijel Pack

SF: Mike McGuirl

PF: Mark Smith

C: Davion Bradford

PG: Dajuan Harris Jr.

SG: Ochai Agbaji

SF: Christian Braun

PF: Jalen Wilson

C: David McCormack

Points: Nijel Pack -- 17.5

Rebounds: Mark Smith -- 8.5

Assists: Markquis Nowell -- 5.0

Points: Ochai Agbaji -- 20.0

Rebounds: Jalen Wilson -- 7.3

Assists: Dajuan Harris Jr. -- 4.1