Kansas is back in Allen Fieldhouse after a hard-fought, scrappy win over Duke in the Champions Cla sic. Now, three days later, the Jayhawks will face a Southern Utah team that does not have the name recognition but rates as the toughest mid-major that Kansas has faced thus far. Team: Southern UtahRecord: 3-1KenPom: 167Line: KU -21.5Southern Utah opened its season on the road against New Mexico and was competitive, falling 89-81. Since then, the Thunderbirds are 3-0 Atlanta Falcons Home Office , and won each of those games by 40+ points, but none of those games were against D-I competition and they were all at home. Now theyll have to see if that confidence holds up at allor for how longagainst a top-five team in the best home-court Deion Sanders T Shirts atmosphere in the country. The Thunderbirds are experienced (averaging 2.5 years of D-I experience) and balanced (five players average double figures in points per game) but theres one clear go-to and thats 6-7 senior and former Illinois guard Tevian Jones. Jones actually leads the country in percentage of shots taken while hes on the floor at 48%. As a result, hes averaging 18 ppg and has an effective field goal percentage of 68.4% (137th nationally). And hes shooting 40% from three on nine attempts per game so far in three games. SUU is pretty balanced behind Jones, Atlanta Falcons Accessories with eight players averaging at least eight points per game. But a lot of that was likely due to the level of competition and that the Thunderbirds were averaging 103 points per game. Southern Utah isnt particularly talltheres only one player playing any sort of meaningful minutes taller than 6-7but the Thunderbirds have been efficient from inside the arc. SUU went 20-34 from two-point range against New Mexico and was closer to 75% against the weaker competition. On the other hand, the Thunderbirds big weakne ses should have Dajuan Harris, Kevin McCullar, and company salivating. Southern Utah has been carele s Avery Williams Jersey with the ball, turning it over 20 times against New Mexico, and nine of those were from steals. SUU also sent New Mexico to the line 36 times. Southern Utah is going to likely jack up a bunch of threes, which means its competitivene s will likely hinge on how many it can hit early. Meanwhile, Kansas could feel a bit of a hangover coming off the Duke win, and a 3-point barrage could be an awakening for the Jayhawks. But the two things you cannot do in AFH, and especially against this version of the Jayhawks, is commit live-ball turnovers and lose the free-throw battle. And while its a small sample size, those feel like two killers for Southern Utah, especially since its been two weeks since facing high-D-I competition. Kansas 89, Southern Utah 66Prediction record3-0 ATS Last game Prediction: 74-70 KU Deion Jones Jersey |Actual: 69-64 KU