Maryland Terrapins vs Kansas Jayhawks Sweet 16 Betting Preview & Odds
Thursday NCAA Tournament action and we will see the Maryland Terrapins take on the Kansas Jayhawks at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. CBS will carry this game, which has a start time of 9:40 pm EST.
Current betting odds for this game have the have the Jayhawks listed as 6 point favorites, while the total has been set at 144.
The Maryland Terrapins come in as the 5th seed in the South Region and they got here by beating South Dakota State by a score of 79-74 in round one and then they had a tough time vs Hawaii before pulling away for the 73-60 win. Now it gets real for them as they are taking on the overall number 1 seed in the tournament and we note that Maryland wasn’t really playing well down the stretch of the regular season. The Terps will be taking on a high scoring Jayhawk team and Mark Turgeon is 57-102-3 ATS, when his team allows more than 70 points, but we also note that the Terps are 19-7 ATS in their last 26 neutral site games. The Terps are not a terribly deep team as just 5 players average more than 5.6 ppg, but all five do average in double figures .Melo Trimble leads the way at 14.5 ppg and led the team with 24 points vs the Warriors. Diamond Stone (12.7 ppg), Robert Carter (12.4 ppg), Jake Layman (11.7 ppg) and Rasheed Sulaimon (11.1 ppg) also average in double figures for the Terps. Layman is the team’s leading rebounder at 7.0 rpg. Overall this is a solid offensive team that ranks 102nd in the nation in scoring, putting up 76.1 ppg, while also ranking 11th in shooting overall, 76th from long range and 7th at the charity stripe. The defensive numbers are strong as well as they come in ranked 47th in points allowed, giving up just 66.3 ppg, while also ranking 42nd in defensive FG% and 45th in 3-point defense. The Terps are 161st in the nation in rebounding, while they commit 13.0 turnovers per game (214th) and force 11.2 turnovers per game (298th).
The Kansas Jayhawks were playing the best ball of any team of the power 5 conferences down the stretch of the regular season and as a result they are the number 1 overall seed in the tournament. They started off the tournament with an easy 105-79 win over Austin Peay and while they had a rough time putting away UConn in the second round, they did eventually pull away for the 73-61 win. Number one seeds are 25-2 SU and 19-8 ATS off back-to-back SU & ATS Tourney wins and the Jayhawks are also 18-6 ATS in their last 24 non-conference games, but they are also just 5-13 ATS in their last 18 games vs the Big 10. The Jayhawks have 7 players that average at least 5.5 ppg and are led by Perry Ellis, who averages 16.9 ppg and had 21 points in each of his first two games on the tournament. Wayne Selden Jr led the team with 22 points vs the Huskies and is 2nd on the team in scoring at 13.6 ppg, while Frank Mason (12.8 ppg) and Devonte Graham (11.4 ppg) also average in double figures for the Jayhawks. Overall the Jayhawks come in ranked 15th in in the nation in scoring, putting up 82.0 ppg, while also ranking 5th in shooting overall, 3rd from long range and 132nd at the charity stripe. On defense the Jayhawks are 75th in the nation in points allowed, giving up just 67.9 ppg, while also ranking 21st in defensive FG% and 81st in 3-point defense. Kansas is 79th in the nation in rebounding, while they commit 12.4 turnovers per game (152nd) and force 13.1 turnovers per game (125th).
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