Texas Tech @ Kansas preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 24, 2018 ) Kansas 74, Texas Tech 72

Playing on the road has proven quite difficult for No. 12 Kansas this season. Fortunately, the Jayhawks return home Saturday to seek an 18th win in 19 tries in Lawrence against No. 15 Texas Tech, a team looking for a third straight victory and perhaps the balance coach Chris Beard has been seeking.

Kansas dropped its second straight game - both on the road - and fell to 1-5 in true road games with Tuesday's 73-63 loss against Texas despite a career-high 24 points in freshman Ochai Agbaji's first career start. "It should be better than 1-5," Self admitted while also pointing out the losses have been to high-quality teams. "There’s certain possessions, you’ve got to get a stop. You’ve got to get a stop under five on the shot clock. And you’ve got to maybe manufacture a basket, under five on the shot clock. But still we get three shot clock violations and they score at the end of the clock.” Texas Tech rolled to an 84-65 victory over TCU on Monday, as Matt Mooney and Jarrett Culver scored 18 points each, Tariq Owens added 17 and the Red Raiders shot 54.2 percent from the floor, including 9-for-21 from 3-point range, and committed just seven turnovers. "There's a real statistical part of basketball," Beard said. "Tonight, we shot over 50 percent, over 40 from 3 and had a low-turnover game and outrebounded them. Then we found a balance we needed with four guys in double figures. If we can get that kind of balanced scoring, take care of the basketball and guard then I think we are one of the best teams in the country."

TV: 4 p.m. ET, CBS

ABOUT TEXAS TECH (17-4, 5-3 Big 12): Culver, who averages team highs of 18.5 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.9 assists, is the only player on the team averaging more than 11 points. Owens (8.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.4 blocks) was one point off his season high after going 7-for-9 from the field along with adding six rebounds. Mooney (10.7 points, 2.9 assists) finished 7-for-12 from the field and also had five assists, while Davide Moretti (10.4 points, 34 3-pointers) recorded a career-high seven assists and scored 11 points two days after scoring a career-high 21 against Arkansas.

ABOUT KANSAS (16-5, 5-3): Agbaji (8.6 points, 4.0 rebounds) shot 8-of-10 from the floor, including 2-of-4 beyond the arc, and added seven rebounds in 35 minutes as the Jayhawks fell to 5-3 in conference play, one-half game behind Kansas State and Baylor in an attempt for a 15h straight regular-season conference crown. "(Agbaji's) becoming obviously, one of our go-to guys, our best players," Self said after the game. "I thought he played terrific. I thought he played athletic. But he hadn't played a lot (prior to tonight), so to expect him to go out and be your best player in a road game in the Big 12 is probably asking a lot. But he was. Dedric Lawson leads the team in scoring (19.2 points), rebounding (10.9) and total blocks (24), while Lagerald Vick chips in 14.5 points and shoots 45.3 percent from 3-point range and Devon Dotson provides 10.7 points and a team-high 3.4 assists.

TIP-INS

1. Kansas has lost two consecutive games for just the third time in the last five seasons.

2. Texas Tech has had little luck playing in Lawrence but did prevail last season 85-73.

3. Agbaji, a three-star recruit who averaged 27.6 points last year as a senior at Oak Park High School in Kansas City, is shooting 57.9 percent from the floor.

PREDICTION: Kansas 74, Texas Tech 70