The No.16-seeded Austin Peay Governors get together with the No.1-seeded Kansas Jayhawks in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Wells Fargo Arena. The game starts at 4:00 pm ET on Thursday, Mar. 17 and will air on TNT.
The Jayhawks beat West Virginia 81-71 in the 4 of the Big 12 tournament. Devonte’ Graham led all scorers with 27 points on 6-for-10 shooting. The Governors, meanwhile, are coming off an 83-73 win over UT Martin in the 4 of the Ohio Valley tournament. Jared Savage shot 8-for-14 and led in scoring with 24 points.
Over the last five games, Graham has taken his game to another level for the Jayhawks. During that stretch, he has averaged 16.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 2.6 steals, and 3.2 three-pointers.
The Jayhawks are looking to build on their records of 30-4 Straight Up (SU) and 21-11 Against The Spread (ATS). In their last 10 games, they are 7-3 ATS. The Jayhawks prevent teams from making three-pointers, ranking 31st in the nation with 210 total three-pointers allowed (6.0 per game).
Over on the other bench, the Governors have 18-17 SU and 14-15-1 ATS records. Austin Peay has done particularly well ATS over its past 10 matchups, going 7-3.
This game will be the first meeting for Kansas and Austin Peay in recent seasons.
Predictions: SU Winner – Kansas, ATS Winner – Kansas
Notes
“Kansas is 11-3 ATS in its last 14 games “.
“Kansas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games “.
“The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Kansas’s last 13 games “.
The Kansas Jayhawks have a defensive rating of 96.7 (ranked 18th), while the Austin Peay Governors have an offensive rating of 107.9 (ranked 125th).
The Kansas Jayhawks have one of the best field goal percentages this season, ranking seventh in the nation with a FG% of 49.4%. When their opponents record a similar or higher FG%, the Austin Peay Governors have a subpar 1-5 record.
The Austin Peay Governors rank higher based on their field goal percentage (61st) than their effective field goal percentage (107th), while the Kansas Jayhawks rank the same for both metrics (seventh).
Kansas ranks 34th in assists, registering 15.9 per game. Austin Peay performs worse at 164th with 13.5 assists per game.
Kansas, the 94th-ranked team in blocked shots, records an average of 4.1 per game. Austin Peay does worse, ranked 243rd with 2.9.
Austin Peay ranks 112th in offensive rebounds, while Kansas ranks at 54th in defensive rebounds.
On average, Austin Peay forces a turnover rate of 19.1%. When Kansas turns over the ball at a similar or higher rate, the team has a stellar 13-2 record.
