Indiana vs Kansas Basketball Prediction & Picks: Will the Hoosiers have another sad Saturday away from home?

A must-see Saturday of college basketball matchups starts with #14 Indiana visiting #8 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse.

The action in Lawrence is set to tip off at noon ET (11:00 am local time) and will be televised by ESPN2.

The past two Saturdays have not been pleasant for the Hoosiers (8-2, 1-1 Big Ten). On the first Saturday of this month, they scored a season-low 48 points in a 15-point loss at Rutgers. Then last Saturday, they gave up a season-high 89 points in a 14-point loss to Arizona in Las Vegas.

The Jayhawks (9-1), meanwhile, has been dominant since losing to Tennessee in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game last month, winning three games by 32, 26, and 28.

Will the Hoosiers put the previous two Saturdays behind them and stun the Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse? Or will it be another ugly loss for the Big Ten favorites? Read on for our Indiana vs Kansas prediction, as well as our Hoosiers vs Jayhawks betting picks and analysis.

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Indiana Hoosiers vs Kansas Jayhawks Odds

Game odds are via BetOnline as of Saturday, December 17, 2022, at 7:00 am ET. This article may also include odds from our other recommended legal sports betting sites.

Spread

• Indiana +5.5 (-108)
• Kansas -5.5 (-112)

Over/Under

• Over 142.5 (-110)
• Under 142.5 (-110)

Moneyline

• Indiana +190
• Kansas -235

Can TJD Deliver a Dominant Day for Indiana?

It’s hard to see Indiana having a real chance to win at Kansas if Trayce Jackson-Davis doesn’t have a big, big game.

After leading the Hoosiers in scoring in their first four games this season, he has led the team in scoring only once in the last six games, which was their ACC-Big Ten Challenge win over North Carolina on November 30.

Now, that isn’t really all that big of a deal against the likes of Arkansas-Little Rock, Jackson State, or even Nebraska. In fact, it will benefit Indiana in the long run if they can win games with others leading the way.

But you want your spotlight players to rise to the occasion in spotlight games, like TJD did against the Tar Heels (21 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, four blocks) and in their tight win at Xavier (30 points, six rebounds, two assists, three blocks).

And unfortunately for Indiana, he was limited in the losses to Rutgers and Arizona. Against the Scarlet Knights, he was just 5 of 11 from the field and scored only 13 points, while he was 4 of 10 from the field against the Wildcats and scored only 11 points.

Those two games are the only games this season in which he has shot less than 50 percent from the field. In his Indiana career, the Hoosiers have won just 7 of 30 games in which he shot less than 50 percent from the field. Last season, they were 1-7 in such games.

Against Kansas at Kansas, the supporting cast will need to step up plenty as well. But if Jackson-Davis doesn’t perform at a high level, anything that the supporting cast does might not matter.

Will McCullar Continue to Pour in the Points?

The Jayhawks have a leading Player of the Year candidate in Jalen Wilson, and they have a leading Freshman of the Year candidate in Gradey Dick.

Those are two great cornerstones for success, but for Kansas to make a serious run at back-to-back national titles, they need a third scoring option.

Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar was brought in to potentially be that guy, and after an up and down start, he might be finding some consistency.

He had 12 big points in the Jayhawks’ win over Duke and had 18 in their thrilling win over Wisconsin, but he also had three single-digit efforts in his first seven games.

But after missing the rout of Texas Southern due to a groin strain, he scored 17 on 6 of 10 shooting (3 of 4 from three) in a 91-65 win over Seton Hall and a season-high 21 points on 8 of 12 shooting in last Saturday’s 95-67 win at Missouri. His threes weren’t falling in Columbia, but he made all six of his two-point attempts and all three of his free throws.

If McCullar can keep this up, the Jayhawks are going to be tough to beat in Big 12 play and in March, given how he can impact the game just as much in other ways as he can with his scoring.

In addition to being the team’s third-leading scorer behind Wilson and Dick, he is the team’s leader in steals per game (2.4 SPG), second-leading rebounder (7.2 RPG), and tied for second in blocks per game (0.7 BPG).

Indiana vs Kansas Prediction and Picks

Hoosiers vs Jayhawks Prediction: Kansas to win

Hoosiers vs Jayhawks Picks: Kansas to cover (Best Value: -5.5 @ -110 at Bovada Sportsbook & BetMGM) & Kevin McCullar Jr. over 12.5 points (Best Value: -104 at Bovada Sportsbook)

I’m not really sold on the Hoosiers, and I don’t see that opinion changing this afternoon. When a team’s ability to win big games is pretty reliant on one guy, I view them differently than teams who can win big games even if their big star isn’t having his best game.

For example, no one outside of Miller Kopp (21 points) did much against Rutgers. So, that loss is just as much on everyone else as it is on Jackson-Davis.

But against Arizona, the Hoosiers had four other double-digit scorers and made 10 threes. Race Thompson had nine boards in addition to 16 points, and Xavier Johnson had 11 assists in addition to 11 points.

If TJD had scored 21 points and 10 rebounds like he did against North Carolina, we could have seen a much different result.

But even if he has a big game, I’m not really sold that they can go into Allen Fieldhouse and win. Thus far in Mike Woodson’s tenure, they have yet to show that they can be trusted in games like these on the road.

The win over Xavier was impressive, but the Hoosiers needed every ounce of what they had to be able to pull it out. They’ll need to somehow dig even deeper to beat the reigning national champions, and I just don’t see that happening.

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