NCAAB Saturday January 7th Kansas State at #19 Baylor Betting Preview
Is K-State for Real?
Two teams streaking in opposite directions meet up on Saturday night in Waco for the Kansas State at Baylor betting matchup. KSU is coming off a high-scoring 116-103 win over #6 Texas on Tuesday night on the road as +8.5 underdogs. That was the 7th straight victory for the Wildcats.
Baylor has dropped their last two and continue to slide 7 spots down to #19. BU blew an 11-point lead at home against TCU their last time out, losing 88-87 as -6 point home favorites which was their first loss at the Ferrell Center this season. Oddsmakers still like the Bears on Saturday night though, setting them as -6.5 favorites.
Wildcats Making a Statement
Kansas State is 13-1 on the year but still unranked, a large part of that due to their quality of opponent. Prior to the visit to Austin, KSU was only an underdog once and they ended up losing that game 76-64 at Butler with a +3 point line.
The Wildcats’ strength of schedule is up to #56 in the country after the win over #6 Texas, but that game proved K-State is not a team to be taken lightly. Their 116 points was the most ever from an unranked opponent on the road against a team inside the top 10, and that mark went well over their 78.5 ppg average.
The fact that Kansas State put up 116 points – in regulation – was astounding, but this is also a team finding their groove on offense led by the duo of Keyontae Johnson and Markquis Nowell. Johnson (18.4 ppg) had 28 vs Texas and is averaging 20.6 over his last five while Nowell is averaging 29.5 the last two games.
Baylor Needs to Stop the Bleeding
The Bears were ranked as high as #5/#6 in the country prior to losses to Virginia (86-79) and Marquette (96-70) and had still hovered around #12 before losing to Iowa State 77-62 on New Year’s Eve. With yet another loss this week at home to TCU, BU will be on the slide down yet again and could find themselves out of the Top 25 if they fall in the Kansas State at Baylor betting matchup.
One of Baylor’s biggest issues the last two games has been sloppy play, committing 19 turnovers against Iowa State and following that up with 15 against TCU. Kansas State is good, but not great, on defense ranking 43rd in adjusted efficiency.
BU is also very inconsistent on offense, with point totals of 58-85-62-87 over the last four games. You would expect a little more from a team that is 18th in adjusted efficiency on that end of the court. The Bears have three players averaging 14+ ppg in Keyonte George, Adam Flager, and LJ Cryer but they’ll need the most out of each of those to match KSU’s red hot offense.
Free Kansas State at Baylor Betting Pick
K-State had a very emotional win this week against #6 Texas, but it’s a lot to ask a team to kncok off two top 25 opponents on the road in the same week. That being said, it’s hard to go against the duo of Johnson and Nowell right now as they combined for 62 points against the Longhorns. Baylor has dropped two in a row and could be in danger of a third straight defeat here.
Free Pick: Kansas State +6.5
