Since losing a close battle in New Jersey to Seton Hall, the Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team is on a roll. They’ve won six consecutive tilts, including their last over WVU to begin conference play in the Big 12.
Texas is up to No. 14 this week in the AP Top 25 and will look to improve that ranking with a road contest at Kansas State on Tuesday night.
While Texas sports betting isn’t an option just yet, those in the Lone Star State can venture to some neighboring locations that do feature legal sportsbooks. Louisiana sports betting is available to many in the eastern part of Texas.
The Longhorns’ current winning streak has their record sitting at 11-2 on the year.
As always, the conference is strong, as five others already have at least 11 victories, too. Texas is between Oklahoma and Kansas in the standings at 11 wins, while they are all looking up at Baylor at a perfect 13-0.
To keep pace, the Longhorns need to hold serve on Tuesday. They enter Manhattan, Kansas, as around eight-point favorites at sportsbooks.
Texas basketball odds vs. Kansas State
A total of three teams are in front of Texas at the moment in the most updated rankings.
Baylor is the No. 1 team in the nation as one of the few unbeaten teams remaining going into 2022. It’s not the only one contending for the conference title, though, as those like No. 6 Kansas and No. 11 Iowa State are more than capable.
Texas Tech at No. 25 is the only other team ranked behind Texas, but both Oklahoma and WVU are just outside.
The Longhorns are clearly one of the better sides among this group. The only issue is they’ll need to win the majority of their games to have a real chance at taking the conference title in the regular season.
Kansas State is a quality opponent, however, it’s someone Texas needs to beat. The Longhorns are laying -8.5 in the point spread according to DraftKings Sportsbook.
They’re available to bet on at -400 on the moneyline, compared to KSU listed at +300 to win outright.
The Wildcats won three straight before narrowly going down to the Sooners. KSU had a strong second half, but fell two points shy of a victory in Norman.
All three of their other losses have been relatively tight, as well.
They lost to Marquette by just one point in the beginning of December. They also oddly dropped back-to-back games to No. 13 Arkansas and No. 14 Illinois by the exact same score of 72-64. Both of these matchups took place at the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Missouri.
KSU has proven it can hang with the talented teams in the country, so Texas is in for a tough one regardless of the point spread.
Texas vs. KSU preview
The Longhorns present plenty of problems for other teams. Part of their strength is their depth and ability to get scoring from a wide range of players.
Senior forward Timmy Allen leads everyone on the squad in points per game with 11.6. He’s followed by six additional players who each average more than seven points this season.
Through Texas’ first 13 contests, it’s had all seven of these guys lead at least one game in scoring.
With an offense like that, the Longhorns should be difficult to contain this year.
They took down the Mountaineers in their last tilt behind a monster opening half. Three Texas players scored at least 14points, with senior Marcus Carr paving the way with 20.
Kansas State doesn’t have much of an issue scoring the basketball, either. It features three players averaging 11 or more points.
Currently, sophomore guard Nijel Pack is tops on the Wildcats with over 15 points per night. He does a lot of his damage from beyond the arc, where Pack is shooting over 42%.
He has 28 triples on the season so far, 10 more than any other Wildcat.
In its last game, KSU received a big lift from senior Mark Smith in the scoring department. He poured in 25 to lead all players in the tough loss at OU.
If you’re a Texas backer and you think the point spread might be a little too big for comfort, you could always turn to additional lines for the game. DraftKings shows the Longhorns giving -5 in the spread for the opening half.
Texas’ moneyline for the first half is at -265 through the online sportsbook, while KSU is posted with odds of +200.
