Kansas State vs. Baylor Prediction and Odds for Saturday, January 7th (Baylor Gets back On Track)

Baylor couldn't handle a second half flurry from TCU, their second straight loss in Big 12 play.

Now, Scott Drew and the Bears welcome a familiar face in new Kansas State coach Jerome Tang, who was an assistant under Drew in Waco for years. Tang is now the head coach at Kansas State, leading the resurgent Wildcats to a 13-1 start in his first year heading up the program.

Kansas State hung 116 in regulation against a top 10 Texas team and now ill look to start 2-0 in Big 12 play, can the student beat the teacher in his first try?

Here are the odds for Saturday night's showdown:

Kansas State vs. Baylor Odds, Spread and Total

There needs to be a course correction for the Wildcats offense, who went nuclear against Texas earlier this week. The team not only shot 13-of-24 from beyond the arc (54%), they shot 31-of-33 from the charity stripe. Overall, they scored 1.41 points per possession, simply an unsustainable mark.

Now, they face a Baylor defense that is not as stout as we have come to know with Drew running the program, but I believe some of that is due to some unsustainable shot making against them. ShotQuality still rates this defense as a top 15 group with their no-middle principles and I think we see a refocused effort after allowing 77 points and 88 to start Big 12 play.

Baylor should dictate the terms in this game, crashing the glass to generate second chances and get to the free throw line. Kansas State is right around the national average in defensive rebounding rate per KenPom, but Baylor is tenacious inside, eighth in offensive rebounding rate nationally. Further, the team is 40th in free throw rate while KSU is 296th in sending foes to the charity stripe.

Baylor closed a six point favorite against TCU, a game that they led by double digits for a good portion of it, so I think this point spread makes sense. Given some looming regression for the Wildcats, I'll back Baylor to get on track.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.