Texas Longhorns vs Kansas Jayhawks Predictions: Big 12 Championship Finals

For the second day in a row, the Kansas Jayhawks absorbed a difficult setback and shrugged it off. And the results were the same, a dominant end to the second half to pull away in a 71-58 victory over a tough Iowa State Cyclones squad. And with the status of senior guard Kevin McCullar unknown for today's game, Kansas will need everyone's help to overcome their opponent in the final: The Texas Longhorns.

According to Joe Lunardi of ESPN, this game likely doesn't mean anything for the Jayhawks when it comes to seeding in the NCAA Tournament:

But Kansas has made it clear multiple times that they are here to win this tournament. Interim coach Norm Roberts talked about how important it is to this team to get the title, and the play on the court as backed that up. The Longhorns have already gotten revenge on the team that cost them a chance at some hardware. Will they be able to complete that revenge tour and bring home a trophy today? Or will Kansas repeat last year's surge in the postseason to finish off another great run?

Do you disagree with our assessment? Make sure you read them all and then hop over to the Discord or on Twitter to share your own thoughts.

Kyle Davis

Check out our Big 12 Championship Preview for Kyle's full breakdown and prediction.

Derek Noll

The chances of Kevin McCullar being his normal self is pretty low, but as Brendan mentioned yesterday, Kansas started playing it’s best basketball at this time last year, and they certainly showed that in the opening stages of this tournament. So let’s just go out and win this thing. Timmy Allen hasn’t featured for the Longhorns since their meaningless win against KU to end the regular season, so both teams are going to be operating at a loss. That said, even without Bill Self pulling the strings, I like Kansas to win, but it’s gonna be tight.

Kansas 74, Texas 72.

Brendan Dzwierzynski

This isn’t an especially analytical breakdown, but it just feels like this is a Kansas team on a mission, so similarly to last season. We’ve known it all year that when Harris is locked in, this team can guard against and score on anyone. Even with McCullar still dealing with the bad back, I think KU has enough to tough out a win and clinch the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament.

Kansas 75, Texas 74.

Andy Mitts

I'm not sure that Kevin McCullar is actually going to play in this game, but Kansas showed in the second half yesterday that they don't necessarily need him. The defense that they played against the Cyclones should translate to this game against the Longhorns, and the real question is going to be how efficient Gradey Dick and the bench is on the offensive end.

Dick was able to get going in the second half to finish with double digit points. And I don't think you can overstate just how much of an advantage the crowd in the T-Mobile Center will be for Kansas. The stadium was absolutely dead during the second game, and you could tell the lack of crowd energy was affecting the two teams. I expect the Jayhawks to feed off that crowd and pull away at the end to finish off another impressive Big 12 year.

Kansas 78, Texas 67.

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