#4 UConn vs #5 Kansas College Basketball Betting Odds & Game Analysis

Fridays are usually the slowest night of the week in college basketball, but this Friday we get one of the great non-conference games of the season matching the previous two national champions in No. 4 UConn and No. 5 Kansas, with the Jayhawks as short favorites on the NCAAB odds in the Big East-Big 12 Battle. 2023 NCAA Basketball Betting & Expert Analysis #4 UConn vs #5 Kansas | MyBookie Sportsbook College Basketball Regular Season: November 6, 2023 – March 17, 2024 | Week 4 NCAAB

How to Bet UConn at Kansas NCAA Basketball Odds & TV Info

When: Friday, 9 PM ET
Where: Allen Fieldhouse
TV: ESPN2
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: Tunein.com
Opening NCAAB Lines: Kansas -2.5 (total 148)

Series History

It’s the fourth all-time meeting with Kansas leading 3-0. The squads met in a regular season series that took place in 1995 and 1997, then squared off in the 2016 NCAA Tournament when No. 1 KU beat No. 9 UConn in Round 2. This will be the first time UConn has visited historic Allen Fieldhouse, with the 1995 meeting coming in Kansas City.

Why Bet on UConn Huskies?

The Huskies (7-0) set an NCAA record on Monday with an 84-64 win over New Hampshire as it was their 24th straight non-conference victory by double digits, breaking a tie with the 2008-09 North Carolina Tar Heels (who won the title that year) for the longest such run. The No. 4 Huskies haven’t lost outside of the Big East since falling to New Mexico State in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

UConn outrebounded New Hampshire 49-28, including 16-4 on the offensive boards. UConn shot 45.7% from the floor, but was just 4 of 28 from 3-point range (14.3%). The Huskies shot 13 of 33 (39.4%) from the field after the break and just 1 of 16 from beyond the arc (6.3%) as Coach Dan Hurley and assistant Tom Moore were each called for technical fouls. The players might already have been looking ahead to this one.

“These games coming up are really going to show what this team is about, it’s gonna show everyone who we are,” said Donovan Clingan, who kept the Huskies above water with a career-high 29 points on 12 of 13 shooting. “We got some of the biggest games in college basketball this year coming up within the next couple weeks but we’ve just got to stay locked in, we’ve got to stick to our identity and just keep working every day. Stay in the gym, get shots up, practice as hard as we can because this game on Friday, it’s gonna be a battle.”

Cam Spencer leads five Huskies averaging over 14 points per game with a team-high 16.3 points per contest, ranking among the national leaders with a 47.8 percent 3-point field goal percentage. Tristen Newton is second on the squad with 15.6 points per game and leads UConn in both rebounding (8.1/g) and assists (6.9/g). Newton has recorded three double-doubles this year including a triple-double, giving him three on his career which makes him both the NCAA active leader and the UConn all-time leader.

The preseason All-American Clingan averages 15.0 points and 6.0 rebounds in 19.3 minutes per game and is shooting 67.7 percent from the floor and has added 1.9 blocks per game. Alex Karaban adds 14.6 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, ranking among the league leaders with a 55.7 percent mark from the floor.

UConn was hoping to get a boost with the potential return of freshman guard Stephon Castle, the preseason Big East Freshman of the Year and former McDonald’s High School All-American who has missed the last five games since he suffered a knee injury against Stonehill Nov. 11. Castle is close to a return but will not play Friday.

Friday is the first regular-season, top-10 matchup for UConn since the eighth-ranked Huskies edged No. 7 Villanova on Jan. 17, 2011 at Gampel Pavilion. As for regular-season, nonconference games, it’s the Huskies’ first top-10 battle since No. 2 UConn topped eighth-ranked Gonzaga, in overtime, on Dec. 20, 2008 in Seattle.

“I think our program is going to put these games in their proper perspective,” Hurley said. “Our experience from last year, I think all of us as coaches, players, winning the national championship and accomplishing the best that you can do at this level, we’re not going into these type of games with the same level of anxiety and nerves.”

Bet UConn to Win
MyBookie Betting Lines for NCAAB

Why Bet on Kansas Jayhawks?

Kansas (6-1), the 2022 NCAA Tournament winner, was preseason No. 1 in both polls but Kansas lost to Marquette in the Maui Invitational, dropping it to No. 5. The Jayhawks nearly got caught looking ahead to this one Tuesday as they played very poorly vs. a bad Eastern Illinois team. The Panthers were within one point of Kansas with about five minutes left at Allen Fieldhouse but KU ended up winning by eight.

Senior All-American Hunter Dickinson had his fourth double-double of the season with 25 points on 11-of-15 (73.3 percent) shooting and 13 rebounds to go along with two assists and three blocks in 35 minutes. The double-double was the 35th of his career. Dickinson has three 20-point games this season and 38 in his career. Through seven games, Hunter has led the team in scoring in five contests and rebounds in all seven games.

Dajuan Harris Jr. became the 12th player in KU history to record 500 career assists. He moved into 11th on the KU career assists lists with 507 in his career. He passed Russell Robinson (500) and Kevin Pritchard (498). He finished with nine assists in the game. Graduate-senior Kevin McCullar Jr. posted 18 points, three rebounds and five assists in 37 minutes. He surpassed 400 career made field goals. Junior KJ Adams Jr. added 10 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting, three rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two assists in 32 minutes.

“We know that that wasn’t our best basketball,” Dickinson said Thursday, “and I think, what better opportunity to showcase how good of a team you are than to go against the No. 4 team in the country that’s on a pretty impressive winning streak and just won the national championship?”

Dickinson leads Kansas in scoring at 21.7 ppg and leads the nation in rebounds per game at 12.7 rpg. He is one of only two players in the Big 12 to average a double-double and is 8-for-13 (61.5%) from three-point range. Adams Jr. is second in the Big 12 in field goal percentage at 73.5%, which is fourth nationally. Adams averages 10.9 points and 3.4 rebounds per contest. Harris Jr. leads the Big 12 with 7.4 assists per game, which is fifth nationally.

Kansas enters averaging 81.3 points per game with a plus-16.6 scoring margin. The Jayhawks pull down 40.0 rebounds per outing with a plus-7.1 rebound margin. Kansas leads the nation in assists per game at 24.1 and is second in field goal percentage (54.0%). KU also averages 7.1 steals and 4.9 blocked shots per contest.

The Jayhawks are 6-1 or better for the 12th-consecutive season. Kansas also has won 10-straight games against non-conference opponents in Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks are 149-6 (96.2%) versus non-league foes in Allen Fieldhouse under Bill Self. Kansas leads the nation in assists per game at 24.1. The Jayhawks also lead the Big 12 and are second in field goal percentage at 54.0%.

Bet Kansas to Win
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College Basketball Expert Prediction #4 UConn vs #5 Kansas

Kansas 72, UConn 70

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