The Jayhawks need a confidence booster. Ever since the Baylor Bears victory on Jan 16, the Kansas offense has looked out of sync. Tyshawn Taylor has held consistent with minimizing turnovers and scoring in double digits, but Thomas Robinson has almost qualified for a full-fledged funk. Jeff Withey is contributing, but not in the visible way he had been at the Baylor game. Travis Releford has become somewhat invisible and the rest of the team has been relative non-factors.
Defeating Texas at Austin was a narrow escape. The Longhorns nearly topped Missouri, so they are no slouch. Next up, the Jayhawks beat the Aggies by 10, but it was a tight game as well. Then, the wheels fell off and Kansas flat out lost to Iowa State and did not look good.
Up for grabs was a 2 game lead in the Big 12. Now down to a 1 game lead over Missouri and Baylor, the Hawks can ill afford to lose a game to an ailing Oklahoma team.
Oklahoma has 3 Big 12 wins, of which 2 are over Kansas State. Those wins are respectable, but the other lone Big 12 win is over the bottom dwellers, Texas Tech.
Kansas should and needs to win this game.
Looking beyond this game to the Missouri game on Feb 4 would be a huge mistake. If Kansas loses to Oklahoma, then the road to win the Big 12 and get a favorable seeding in the NCAA tournament becomes uphill both ways covered in snow and sleet. KU still has to play Missouri in Columbia, Missouri at home, Kansas State at Manhattan and Baylor at Baylor. The road to a Big 12 championship is paved in suffering.
Kansas needs to get wins in where they can and this game against Oklahoma should be an easy double digit victory. Thomas Robinson and company need to find their rhythm and get the offense back on track.
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