Cajun Sports

The Big 12 and SEC clash tonight at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis as the Kentucky Wildcats take the floor against the Kansas Jayhawks. The Jayhawks opened the 20 campaign with a 102 to 90 loss to top-ranked Gonzaga in Fort Myers, Fla. Gonzaga exposed a Kansas team trying to find the right combinations to put on the floor. This was largely due to the loss of big man Udoka Azubuike and point guard Devon Dotson who led a Kansas team certainly thinking about a possible 2020 National Championship before COVID put those thoughts on ice. Gonzaga shot sixty-four percent from the floor and they also held a plus-nine rebounding advantage over Kansas this makes it easy to explain how the Jayhawks came up short in this matchup. The next time the Jayhawks took the floor on Friday it was obvious they had made some changes to their lineups and game plan. Kansas sophomore Christian Braun scored a career-high thirty points to go with nine rebounds in the Jayhawks 94 to 72 win on Friday over Saint Joseph’s. Jayhawks Coach Bill Self unleashed his depth with nine players seeing at least ten minutes of court time with redshirt freshman point guard Dajuan Harris garnering positive remarks from the coach about his play in the win. Harris played only three minutes against the Bulldogs, but he sparked Kansas in the second half against Saint Joseph's playing fifteen minutes in the win. Kansas had won three straight in this series until Kentucky won 71 to 63 at home back in January 2019 as part of the SEC/Big 12 challenge. Kentucky, which opened with an 81 to 45 win over Morehead State, is still waiting on the return of Keion Brooks Jr., (leg injury) who is the lone returner from last season's rotation. Brooks averaged 4.5 points, 3.2 rebounds in fifteen minutes per game as a freshman last season. Kentucky coach John Calipari with his annual youth movement starting four freshmen against Richmond. It did not go well, as the Wildcats committed twenty-one turnovers and missed all ten attempts from 3-point range. The Spiders came away with a 76 to 64 victory over the Wildcats. The Cats defensive numbers look good but they come from such a small sample and the first game the Cats played was against Morehead State and they scored forty-five in the loss so we need a few more games to be played against solid opponents before proclaiming their defensive prowess. They will get a test tonight against the Jayhawks and our numbers tell us they are in for another tough outing. Our TPR Index projects a point advantage of 11.63 points. The MM projects a point differential of 8.22 points with a line range of -3.0 to -5.5. The Pace-Tempo Matrix has an offensive-defensive differential of 9.27 with a transitional average of 41.84 and a conversion rate range of 47.5 to 49.3 percent in tonight’s contest. The SIM Matrix has the Kansas Jayhawks with a 73.99 percent advantage against the spread in tonight’s contest. We are going to lay the short price with the Jayhawks as they get the straight up and against the spread victory over the Cats Tuesday night in Indy. 7* KANSAS JAYHAWKS

The ACC / Big 10 Challenge will tipoff Tuesday night as the Michigan State Spartans take the floor against the Duke Blue Devils. The Spartans opened the season with back-to-back double-digit wins while Duke edged Coppin State 81 to 71 in their first game of the season last week. This is not a favored matchup for Sparty’s coach Tom Izzo who has won just two of fourteen career meetings versus Coach K. This bureau believes he has a great chance tonight to add a much-needed W to that record. Michigan State defeated Notre Dame in its toughest test of the season on Saturday, taking down the Irish 80 to 70 to improve to 2-0 on the young season. Aaron Henry finished with fourteen points and eight rebounds while Marquette transfer Joey Hauser chipped in ten points, sixteen boards, and four assists in the win. The Spartans shot just 31.8 percent from beyond the arc but dominated the glass and led by as many as twenty-eight points on the night. Through their first two games, Izzo’s troops come into the ACC-Big Ten Challenge scoring a very strong 111.7 points per one-hundred possessions (9th in the NCAA) while assisting on an NCAA-best 88.3 percent of their made field goals. The Spartans have an effective field goal percentage of 55.6 percent and they have shot 40.0 percent of their total field goal attempts from beyond the arc for the season. Duke defeated Coppin State in their season opener Saturday winning 81 to 71 as thirty-nine-point favorites. Freshman Jalen Johnson had nineteen points, nineteen rebounds, and four blocks to lead the Blue Devils to their first win of the season. Fellow freshman D.J. Steward led the team in scoring with twenty-four points and shot 4-of-9 from long range for Duke, which had to overcome a twenty-two-turnover performance for the win. This against a Coppin State team that entered the game ranked outside the Top 300 in the Kenpom Collegiate Rankings. The Spartans have plenty of offensive firepower, Izzo has been impressed with his team’s defense, calling it one of the best defensive teams that he’s had at Michigan State. The Spartans have limited opponents to only 90.2 points per one-hundred possessions which is good enough for 28th in the nation and an effective field goal percentage of just 42.7 percent which has them ranked 42nd in the nation. The Spartans also do a good job on the defensive glass ranked 38th in the NCAA along with a defensive block rate of 20.7 percent which is good enough for 5th in the nation. Our TPR Index projects a point advantage of 2.5 points in favor of the underdog. The MM projects a point differential of -7.62 points with a line range of +3.0 to +5.5. The Pace-Tempo Matrix has an offensive-defensive differential of 6.89 with a transitional average of 41.37 and a conversion rate range of 46.91 to 48.86 percent in tonight’s contest. The SIM Matrix has the Michigan State Spartans with a 73.79 percent advantage against the spread in tonight’s contest. We are going to take the points with Sparty as Izzo and his troops give Coach K and his troops all they can handle on Tuesday night. 7* MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS