The Kansas men’s basketball team gets set to take on the Missouri Tigers in Columbia, Mo., on Sunday, December 8th, 2024.
Tip-off is set for noon central. Kansas is ranked No. 1 in the country. Missouri is unranked.
The Jayhawks (7-1) likely won’t be ranked No. 1 when the new poll comes out on Monday after their loss to Creighton earlier in the week. Kansas was without guard Rylen Griffen due to an illness and hopes to have him back for Sunday’s contest.
Missouri (7-1) is playing its eighth home game of the year and it’s only game away from home? Well, that turned into a loss.
It’s one of the best rivalries in college basketball renewed at Mizzou Arena in this NCAAB match up.
How to Watch Kansas vs. Missouri
Date: Sunday, December 8th, 2024
Time: Noon CT
TV Channel: ESPN2
Kansas vs. Missouri Betting Odds, Lines
Opening Line: Kansas -4.5
Current Line: Kansas -6.5
Over/Under: 145.5
Kansas vs. Missouri Predictions
Kansas lost by 13 points to Creighton and it was a bit of a wake-up call. Center Hunter Dickinson didn’t match up well with Bluejays center Ryan Kalkbrenner, but adding Griffen back into the lineup will help. When Dickinson is on, he’s a walking double-double.
Guards Zeke Mayo and Dajuan Harris Jr. combine to score more than 22 points per game.
Kansas has faced four high-majors so far and the Jayhawks are 3-1. This is the Jayhawks’ second true road game and their last true road game until Jan. 5 at UCF.
Missouri’s opener was at Memphis and that turned into a loss. The next seven games have all been at home and have all been against mid-majors. So this is the Tigers’ biggest test to this point.
Making it tougher is that Missouri leading scorer Caleb Grill, formerly of Iowa State, is out for the game due to injury, one that required him to leave the last game on a stretcher. He was averaging more than 13 points per game.
That puts more of the work on guard Mark Mitchell (12.3 ppg), guard Tamar Bates (12.3 ppg) and guard Anthony Robinson II (12.0 ppg).
The 3-point shooting could by key in this game. Grill was shooting better than 50% from there. Aside from losing the scoring, Missouri loses its ability to stretch defenses out, too.
Kansas 77, Missouri 71
ESPN Matchup Predictor: Kansas (70.4% Chance of Winning)
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
