Harvard Crimson vs Kansas Jayhawks Predictions: A Holiday Blowout

The crew gets together to tell you what they expect to see in tonight's matchup.

It's the final contest for the Kansas Jayhawks before a break for the holidays, and instead of going on the road as they have done in the past, the Jayhawks are welcoming in the Harvard Crimson to round out the non-conference schedule. But while this doesn't appear to be a competitive matchup on paper, can Kansas keep focus on the task at hand before looking to the holiday break?

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 Harvard Preview for Kyle's full breakdown and prediction.

Derek Noll

Harvard on the Kaw against actual Harvard. Intriguing. Well, considering that Harvard has lost to Louisiana Lafayette and Fordham among others, I think that intriguing might be overstating it. Nonetheless, this game should be a nice send off before Christmas and I’m looking for KU’s size to win out with KJ having a big game.

Kansas 88, Harvard 60.

Lucas Murphy

The winter weather rolled into Kansas overnight but I don’t believe that will slow down this Jayhawks basketball team. Even though Harvard is a very prestigious educational institution they are coming to where basketball began and they are about to get schooled on the court. The Jayhawks are clicking on all cylinders. The starting five have been incredible at not only putting up points but playing defense. They look like a team when others rotate in. I anticipate a big win.

Kansas 87, Harvard 62

Brendan Dzwierzynski

Maybe these are famous last words (though I doubt it), but the Harvard offense is awful. Entering Thursday night, it’s ranked 271st in Kenpom and 329th according to Stats Perform’s TRACR metric. I know it’ll be a small crowd and it’s a classic letdown game spot going into the Christmas break, but as long as KU doesn’t blast itself in the foot over and over, the all-around offensive threat of the Jayhawks will be too much for the Crimson to overcome.

Kansas 88, Harvard 60.

Andy Mitts

I talked about this on the podcast with Brendan, but the formula for upsets in the past has been hot shooting from the perimeter combined with a lackluster amount of effort from Kansas. Sure Jalen Wilson had a really bad shooting night against Indiana, but I don't know that you can count on that happening again. With plenty of other options for scoring, I'm not worried about the ability to score from the Jayhawks.

But Harvard is AWFUL from three. Like 28% awful. If Kansas is able to do anything to shut down the Harvard inside game, it is going to be extremely difficult for this one to even be close.

Kansas 96, Harvard 69.

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