TCU Horned Frogs at Kansas Jayhawks: Review & Preview

A truncated preview/refresher of tonight's opponent for the Kansas Jayhawks: the TCU Horned Frogs

There's no need to write a full breakdown of this TCU team as though they're a new foe with whom to familiarize ourselves. The Horned Frogs took down the Jayhawks just two days ago, and it wasn't pretty. But as frustrating as that loss was, it's hard to see Self not...uh, "self"-correcting and making the proper adjustments to ensure the Jayhawks don't lose to the same team twice in three days, this time at home. 

First though, some bad news: a major reason why TCU won Tuesday night (offensive rebounding) was not a fluke. As I mentioned in Tuesday's preview, this is a serious strength of this Horned Frogs team. While Kansas allowed them to rebound more of their misses than usual (about 45% of them), TCU leads all D1 schools in offensive rebounding rate. They've done this before and can do this again, if Kansas doesn't find a way to address this area. 

But enough with the bad news. Fortunately, one big thing that happened Tuesday was a fluke. KU shot 35% from two, while shooting 53% overall in league play. Since TCU is a mediocre shot defending team (50% in league play), it's extraordinarily unlikely that the Jayhawks suffer from this again, especially at home. Some things that worked in KU's favor that are likely to continue: low turnovers (KU doesn't commit many, and TCU doesn't force many), poor 3 point shooting by TCU (20% is especially bad, but they're dead last in the Big 12 here), and good 3 point shooting by Kansas (1st in the conference). 

Prediction

If all TCU has going for it on paper is offensive rebounding, and Kansas gets to play at home coming off a frustrating loss, I'll go ahead and take Kansas every time. This may not even be that close. 

Kansas 80, TCU 66