Kansas State vs TCU Odds, Lines, and Spread

• The Kansas State Wildcats (8-19, 4-14 Big 12) play the TCU Horned Frogs (12-13, 5-11 Big 12) in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on Wednesday, March 10th
• Neither team fared well in the regular season so a run in the tournament is their only ticket to the Big Dance
• See the odds, spread, analysis, and best bet, below

The 2021 Big 12 Tournament begins Wednesday when the Kansas State Wildcats and the TCU Horned Frogs get together. Tip-off at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, is scheduled for 6:30 pm ET and will be televised on ESPN.

This series has been a back and forth battle recently with both teams winning three of the last six matchups. Kansas State won the most-recent, 62-54, last month, but the Horned Frogs are favored by three points in this matchup.

Kansas State vs TCU Odds

Odds as of March 8th at FanDuel.

Kansas State comes into this one as hot as they have been all season. After losing 13 straight games to begin 2021, they have now won three of their last four with the latest being a 61-56 win over Iowa State on Sunday.

TCU has yet to win a game in the month of March, losing all three by at least nine points. They were throttled by Texas 76-64 as 7.5-point underdogs in their regular-season finale.

Kansas State Is Finding Its Stride

It only took 13 games in 2021 for the Kansas State Wildcats to notch a win. Now that they are off the schneid, they don’t seem to want to lose. After earning their first win of 2021 over TCU on February 20, they won two of their next three games. In their last win, they outlasted Iowa State 61-56 in a rock fight.

Three Wildcats scored in double-figures including a game-high 17 from Mike McGuirl fueled a 61-56 win over the Cyclones.

Game Highlights vs Iowa State ⤵️#KStateMBB x EMAW pic.twitter.com/wbYjUQWcYv

— K-State Men's Basketball (@KStateMBB) March 7, 2021

At 65.7 possessions per 40 minutes (adjusted for opponent), the Wildcats play at the 309th-fastest pace in the country. They tend to lull their opponents to sleep, finding shots late in the shot clock leading to ultra-low-scoring games. The total against Iowa State closed at 132.5 and never even got close to going over, ending at 116. Kansas State held Iowa State to 36% shooting from the field making this one an under bettor’s dream.

TCU Is Battle-Tested

Since playing the hapless Iowa State Cyclones on February 27th, the TCU Horned Frogs have faced three ranked opponents in three straight games. They finished no closer than nine points in any of the contests. In their last game against Texas, they could have easily been beaten by 20-plus points had the Longhorns not called off the dogs in garbage time. Mike Miles was one Horned Frog that took no issue with the Longhorns end of game approach.

Mike Miles 👀#GoFrogs pic.twitter.com/ZKw7gtFRpL

— TCU Men's Basketball (@TCUBasketball) March 8, 2021

This was an actual game through the first 20 minutes as Texas only led by four at the half. It wasn’t until the second half that the blowout began to materialize. The normally-decent TCU three-point defense fell apart, allowing the Longhorns to connect on 48% of their long-range attempts.

Best Betting Angle

Neither one of these teams seem to want to bring the ball up the court. As mentioned earlier, the Wildcats take all day to find a shot but so do the Horned Frogs as they rank 251st in pace. TCU does shoot the ball well on the season at 44% from the field but in their last three games they have slipped to 41%. The Wildcats are not much better hitting only 35% of their shots over their last three.

With pace and shooting considered, the total in this one seems just a little too high. These two teams have played twice already and neither time did they reach this number. The Wildcats will no doubt try to take the air out of the ball and TCU seems okay with playing that way. Unless we see some outlier shooting or the dreaded overtime, this game should go under the total.

The pick: Under 129 (-110)