Baylor vs. Kansas: 2019-20 college basketball game preview, TV schedule

One of the best battles in all of collegiate hoops so far this term will take place in the Big 12 Conference on Saturday when Baylor travels to Kansas.

TV schedule: Saturday, January 11, 1:00 pm ET. CBS.
Arena: Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan.

A pair of top-five teams will collide this Saturday afternoon, as Baylor pays a visit to Lawrence to square off with Kansas. This delectable Big 12 Conference bout has all kinds of implications for not only the league race but also the 2020 March Madness down the road.

At this juncture, the No. 3 Jayhawks (12-2, 2-0) and the No. 4 Bears (12-1, 2-0) each are unblemished in the Big 12 standings, and both squads are on a roll. Kansas has won three in a row, while Baylor has rattled off impressive 11-consecutive conquest. Something will have to give inside a surely frenetic Allen Fieldhouse.

Currently at No. 1 in the NCAA NET system, the Jayhawks possess solid victories over a handful of clubs, including BYU, Dayton, Colorado, Stanford, West Virginia and Iowa State. Furthermore, if there’s ever such a thing as bad losses, Kansas has them. The Jayhawks fell to highly rated Duke by two points at a neutral site, and to Villanova on the road by one point.

For the Bears, at No. 5 in the NET, they’ve bested four top-25 crews in the aforementioned Villanova, as well as Arizona, Butler and Texas Tech. Baylor’s sole setback is to Washington by three points on a neutral court, in a meeting that the Bears should have triumphed in but coughed up late.

Besides possible conference supremacy, Baylor and Kansas are eyeing high seeds in the Big Dance. Presently, bracketologists view the Jayhawks as a No. 1 seed and the Bears as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tourney. However, if Baylor succeeds at Kansas, it would shock me if the Bears don’t elevate past the Jayhawks onto the top line.

Let’s delve into various statistics. Kansas is a strong offensive group, putting up 79.4 points per affair. Baylor, on the flip side, is terrific on defense, allowing a mere 58.4 points every 40 minutes. That’s an interesting facet of this encounter for which to keep a keen eye.

Rebounding, assists, blocks, steals and 3-point shooting are relatively even among this duo of heavyweights. Two areas of particular intrigue to me are turnovers and the charity stripe. The Jayhawks commit 14.2 mistakes a game, which is pretty bad, and they only connect on 65.5 percent from the free-throw line, which is horrendous. But the Bears don’t fare much better, at 12.6 miscues and 69.8 percent from the foul line.

Overall in their series together, Kansas has dominated Baylor, 32-5, and the Bears have never defeated the Jayhawks in Lawrence, going 0-17. According to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, Kansas is a massive favorite to prevail versus Baylor, at 80.9 percent. The Bears are really, really good, and they’ll keep this duel close, but the Jayhawks ultimately will achieve.

Prediction: Kansas 72 – Baylor 66