Free Pick | Saturday | NCAA | Feb. 1

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#698 Baylor -2.5 over Kansas 3:00 PM CT

Baylor is coming off an overtime loss at BYU Tuesday, making a stunning comeback to force overtime but falling short. The Bears will be a .500 team in Big XII play unless they can upset Kansas tonight, with a difficult game at Texas Tech lurking next week. Baylor has seven top 100 wins this season and most of the losses have come against elite competition, including playing road games in Big XII play against Iowa State and Arizona already. Baylor did lose to TCU at home in a close game in January but is 9-1 S/U at home for the season. The offensive numbers for Scott Drew’s squad are impressive with upper level turnover and outside shooting rates, while the Bears are a good free throw shooting team. The roster has faced challenges with Jeremy Roach and Langston Love out, but Kansas has injury issues as well with Dajuan Harris a question mark on Saturday. Kansas has perhaps been overlooked in the Big XII race but the Jayhawks don’t have a top 50 win in Big XII play, going 0-3 in those opportunities, including two home losses. The only road wins for Kansas have come against the lesser teams in the league and the high-quality non-conference wins over North Carolina, Michigan State, and Duke, were all in November and all came by extremely slim margins. Kansas is not getting a lot of scoring at the free throw line and the defense has created few turnovers. It has been a very average shooting team compared to many of Bill Self’s past squads and the rebounding potential should favor the Bears on Saturday. These teams have been overshadowed by some of the Big XII newcomers, but this is a rare price for Baylor at home with the Bears 4-0 S/U in the past four Waco meetings in this series, including a comfortable win last season as a four-point favorite, with Baylor last a home underdog vs. Kansas back in January 2021.