Now that Kansas has a Big 12 win under its belt, it will look to secure its first conference road win. And the first chance the Jayhawks will get is in Lubbock against Texas Tech Tuesday night.

It’s interesting how the schedule played out because if you’re looking for similarities with Texas Tech—both in play and resume—all you have to do is look at KU’s Saturday opponent, Oklahoma State.

Team: Texas Tech

Record: 10-3

KenPom: 31

Line: KU -1 (opened KU -1.5)

Like the Cowboys, Tech has no bad losses. All three are by top-35 KenPom teams and all three away from home: neutral to Creighton, neutral to Ohio State, and at TCU on Saturday. But the Red Raiders are also not the most aggressive non-conference schedulers. Of the 10 wins, zero are top-100 KenPom wins, two are against teams ranked in the 100s, five are in the 200s, and three are in the 300s. Though, in Tech’s defense, I’m sure it didn’t figure Louisville would be this bad.

Still, like OSU, Tech is a top-31 KenPom team that is led by defense (22nd nationally), while its offensive efficiency flags behind (63rd nationally).

The Red Raiders’ roster looks quite a bit different from the last time Kansas faced them. Bryson Williams and Davion Warren are no longer in college, Terrence Shannon is now at Illinois, and Kevin McCullar, well, he’ll be on the court but in a different jersey this year.

Taking over as the leading scorer so far is Kevin Obanor, the former Oral Roberts standout now in his second year with the Red Raiders. Obanor is averaging 15.6 points per game, up from 10 last year, while also averaging 6.2 rebounds. To replace Warren, Mark Adams brought in De’Vion Harmon, who came from Oregon after starting his career at Oklahoma. Harmon is second on the team in scoring (12.2 ppg) and leading the team in assists (3.9).

Three other Red Raiders are averaging double figures, including top-100 recruit Pop Isaacs, who is second on the team in assists (2.7) to go with 10.4 ppg. But maybe the biggest improvement has come from 6-11, 245-pound big man Daniel Batcho. Batcho went from 2.2 points and 2.7 rebounds in 10 minutes per game as a freshman last year to 11.8 points and eight rebounds in 26 minutes so far as a sophomore. He’s become a menace down low, similar to Moussa Cisse on Oklahoma State.

Like Oklahoma State, Texas Tech doesn’t take a ton of threes and is strong on the offensive glass, but turns it over a lot. The Red Raiders turn it over 20.4% of the time and had 23 in their loss to TCU over the weekend. But they combat that by being a top-80 team in offensive rebounding and getting to the free-throw line at a top-20 clip. And although Tech only takes 3s 36.9% of the time, it is hitting 36.7% of them.

KJ Adams and the bigs will need to be locked in again on Tuesday. The Red Raiders are 10th nationally in two-point percentage. The Jayhawks will also need to be better at avoiding foul trouble than they were Saturday given Tech’s ability to get to the line.

Kansas should be ready for this after Saturday, but the hostile environment means the Jayhawks won’t be able to be as sloppy with the ball as they were against the Cowboys. And while the law of averages would say Tech likely won’t shoot as high above its average as OSU did Saturday, the Red Raiders are better positioned to have a strong game from behind the arc.

Foul trouble is a big concern for KU against the Red Raiders, as will be protecting the paint. Similarly, Kansas will have to be more effective from inside the arc. The Jayhawks can’t afford to have Dajuan Harris, McCullar, and Gradey Dick go a combined 1-11 from two-point range like they were against OSU.

We know the potential downfalls, but given how much of a battle the conference opener was, Kansas should be more ready to play. Tech will make this rock fight, but unless the Red Raiders can shoot like OSU did from three, I like Kansas to start 2-0 in the Big 12.

Kansas 74, Texas Tech 70

7-5-1 ATS

Last game – Prediction: 73-64 KU | Actual: 69-67 KU