Missouri Tigers @ Kansas Jayhawks NCAA Basketball Free Pick

Missouri Tigers @ Kansas Jayhawks NCAA Basketball Free Pick: Missouri still plays the fastest 40-minutes in college basketball, and that always makes them a fun team to follow. With their only losses coming to ranked opponents (Georgetown in OT, Texas A&M in OT, and Texas) they certainly post a legit challenge to the 2nd ranked Jayhawks. Kansas, 21-1 thus far, had a close win against Colorado after losing to Texas, but since then they’ve stepped on the gas and beat up on Kansas State and Texas Tech in consecutive games. They certainly have the athletes to run with Missouri, but only if they can keep up with the Tigers.

Kansas is 22-1, 7-1 in the Big 12 while Missouri is 18-4, 4-4 in the conference play. The Jayhawks beat Missouri’s up-tempo attack both times the teams played last season. This is their first meeting this year.

Kansas is coming off quite a win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers, a normally stout defensive team. Kansas dropped 80+ points on the Cornhuskers, winning easily.

Missouri is also coming off a big win over Colorado, though for the struggling Tigers, any win is looking big. The Tigers are 4-4 over their last 8 games after starting the season 15-1.

It’s probably not the smart bet, but I’m taking the Jayhawks. I see the Tigers don’t lose many games by 10+, but I just don’t think they can play their style of basketball against an elite Kansas team. Plus, this game is on the road where the Tigers have lost 4 straight games. They’ve struggled against big, athletic teams, and Kansas certainly is that. I’m a little worried that Kansas will cool down a little bit after hitting everything they threw up against Nebraska, but I still have to take the Jayhawks in a cover here.

#15 Missouri Tigers @ #2 Kansas Jayhawks (-11) (2/7) (ESPN)