Texas travels to face No. 9 Kansas hoping for upset

There are two Kansas Jayhawks basketball teams. Both are ranked No. 9 in the AP Top 25, but one team is 3-5 on the road. The other is undefeated at Phog Allen Fieldhouse.

Courtesy of a scheduling decision by the Big 12 that definitely didn’t have anything to do with the Texas Longhorns leaving the conference, the lone matchup this season for head coach Rodney Terry’s team comes against the undefeated Jayhawks at Phog Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, where the Longhorns are 2-17 all time with wins in 2011 and 2021.

“We start our preparation for a really good Kansas team,” said Terry on Thursday. “Obviously, Hall of Fame coach in Coach [Bill] Self and a program we have a ton of respect for and always have in this league,” said Terry on Thursday. “One of the best places to play in college basketball, you talk about going up to Lawrence and playing in Allen Fieldhouse, it doesn’t get any better than that in college basketball.”

As a longtime assistant under Rick Barnes at Texas, Terry has plenty of memories playing Kansas in Lawrence, including the 15-point comeback in 2011 behind 23 points from J’Covan Brown as the No. 10 Longhorns toppled the No. 2 Jayhawks, ending a 69-game home winning streak by Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse.

Other memories were about the close losses like TJ Ford-led, No. 3 Texas falling to No. 12 Kansas 90-87 in 2003 when Nick Collison recorded 24 points and 23 rebounds to help the Jayhawks avoid a three-game losing streak. Or Terry describing Kansas fans in awe of Kevin Durant scoring 25 points in the first half against future NBA players in 2007 before losing 90-86 with the Big 12 regular-season title on the line.

The stakes aren’t as high on Saturday for either team with Kansas at 8-5 in Big 12 play and Texas at 6-7 looking for its biggest upset of the season against the No. 17 team in KenPom.com’s adjusted efficiency metric with the No. 46 offense and No. 8 defense.

The Jayhawks won’t threaten the Longhorns on the offensive glass like recent opponents — Kansas actually ranks No. 293 in that category — but head coach Bill Self’s team does share the ball better than anyone else in the country, ranking first in assist rate at 68.4 percent and assists per game at 19.8 and scoring efficiently inside the arc. With only 30.4 percent of the shots taken by Kansas coming from three-point range, this isn’t a team that relies on the three ball or hits it at an extremely high level, making 35.2 percent.

And the injury status of star guard Kevin McCullar Jr. is a big storyline for a team that doesn’t feature much depth. The Texas Tech transfer aggravated a bone bruise on his knee against Oklahoma originally sustained in January, scoring 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting in 35 minutes. Self told the media on Thursday that McCullar’s availability is in question.

“He hasn’t done anything yet this week, so we’ll probably wait and see if he’s able to do anything today,” said Self. “Today will probably determine if he plays on Saturday as much as anything. But I probably won’t tell you guys that.”

At 19.0 points per game, McCullar is the leading scorer for Kansas and in the conference, stuffing the stat sheet with 6.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.5 steals per contest and pacing the Jayhawks with 37 three-pointers and two triple doubles. The other star is Michigan transfer forward Hunter Dickinson, who averages a double double at 18.2 points per game and 11.0 rebounds per game, seventh nationally. Austin Westlake product KJ Adams also averages double-digit scoring while guard Johnny Furphy is a dangerous three-point shooter who makes 38.7 percent of his three-point attempts. The point guard is Dejuan Harris, tied for 15th nationally with 169 and averaging 6.5 per game.

Regardless of McCullar’s availability, Dickinson will be a tough matchup for the Longhorns.

“it’s not going to be one guy to try to do the job, it’s gonna be by committee, and even then, you’re not gonna shut Hunter down,” said Terry. “Hunter’s obviously one of the best big men in college basketball, you just can’t let him have one of those great nights were he’s scoring 25-30 points in the game. You’re not gonna stop him from scoring. We’ve got to do a great job of getting great ball pressure to try to limit opportunities and help our guys that are trying to defend the paint.”

Defensively, the Jayhawks limit opponents to 44.5-percent shooting inside the arc and secure the defensive glass, but struggle to create turnovers.

BartTorvik.com gives Kansas a 73-percent win probability with an expected score of 75-69.

How to watch

TV: ESPN

Time: 5:00 p.m. Central

Livestream: WatchESPN

Radio: The Longhorn IMG Radio Network broadcasts every Texas game statewide. Check TexasSports.com for affiliates.

Odds: Kansas is a seven-point favorite, according to DraftKings.

Odds/lines are subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.