Purdue Vs Kansas Lines, Expert Pick & TV Info

National Player of the Year candidate Caleb Swanigan and the fourth-seeded Purdue Boilermakers will look to pull off the huge upset over the top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks when the two March Madness championship hopefuls square off in their huge Sweet 16 matchup on Thursday. Now, let’s find out if the Jayhawks can avoid the upset to keep their national championship hopes alive as well as the latest NCAA basketball betting lines.

Analyzing The Purdue Boilermakers Vs Kansas Jayhawks Lines, Expert Pick & TV Info

When: Thursday, March 23, 2017 at 9:35 PM ET Where: Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri TV: CBS Live Stream: CBS Sports Network NCAAB Odds: Kansas -3.5 / Total: 156.5    

Why Bet The Purdue Boilermakers Odds at +5

The Boilermakers (27-19 SU, 19-10 ATS) have some decent momentum going by winning four of their last five games and eight of 10 overall. Purdue survived a pair of tough tourney matchups by beating dangerous Nevada 80-70 in their opener and following that up with a 80-76 win over explosive Iowa State in the second round on Saturday as forward Vince Edwards scored a team-high 21 points while grabbing10 rebounds while Caleb Swanigan added 20 points and team-highs of 12 rebounds and 7 assists in the win. Swanigan is averaging a stupendous 18.5 points and 12.6 assists per game to put his name into the Player of the Year mix.

Why Bet The Kansas Jayhawks Odds at -5

The Jayhawks (30-4 SU, 13-18 ATS) have won two straight since getting stunned by TCU in the Big 12 tournament, but the Jayhawks have won nine of their last 10 games overall. Kansas smacked UC-Davis and Michigan State senseless in their two tournament matchups so far and pounded the Spartans 90-70 in the second round as Frank Mason scored a team-high 20 points and Devonte’ Graham added 18 points in the win. Mason is also in the Player of the Year race by averaging 20.8 points, 5.2 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game.

Expert Pick & Final Score Prediction

While a convincing 66 percent of the betting public likes top-seeded Kansas to win and cover the spread as 5-point favorites, I don’t and I advise you to back the lower-seeded Boilermakers in this contest. First and foremost, I like the fact that the Boilermakers have had two matchups against very good opponents while Kansas hasn’t had a ‘real’ game since the NCAA Tournament started. The Boilermakers have a dangerous offense that averages just 3.1 fewer points per game than the Jayhawks, but a defense that gives up 4.5 fewer points per game defensively. Purdue has a Player of the Year candidate in power forward Caleb Swanigan (18.5 ppg, 12.6 rpg) and another forward that is blossoming at just the right time in junior Vince Edwards. Kansas has struggled to cover the spread by going 3-10 ATS in their last 13 games following an ATS win, 2-6-1 ATS in their last 9 games as a favorite of 6.5 points or less and 7-16 ATS in their last 23 games against Big ten ballclubs. Conversely, Purdue has gone 6-1 ATS in their last seven neutral site games, 5-1 ATS in their last six NCAA Tournament games and 9-3-2 ATS in their last 14 games against a team with a winning SU record. Swanigan and Edwards will control the glass and the paint to lead the Boilermakers to the upset!

My final score prediction is Purdue 81 Kansas 76