NCAAB Seton Hall Vs. Kansas Predictions, Picks, Odds (12/1/22)

Seton Hall travels to the reigning champions Kansas Jayhawks in another installment of the Big East-Big 12 Battle in what will be one of the premier matchups in the slate. Bouncing back after a thwarting from Tennessee, Kansas now gets another defensive minded team that will be looking to get the upset. Can Kansas avoid the upset?

Seton Hall Vs. Kansas Odds

Oddsmakers tend to think so as they opened Kansas as a -7.5 favorite. Bettors are also aligned with oddsmakers as they were quick to pounce on Kansas, shooting this number up to -10.5 on some books. While 7-1, Kansas has played a bunch of close ones in their victories with a simple wrong bounce being all the difference a team may need to upset the Jayhawks.

As for the total, this is where I am perplexed as oddsmakers opened the total at 135.5 overnight. With intentions to take the under, I was surprised to see that bettors have been steaming the over by taking this as high as 139.5. Both units have struggled to find an offensive identity and are going against two capable defenses.

Seton Hall Vs. Kansas Prediction & Pick

The Pick: u139.5

While I put a piece on the current under 139.5, I will keep adding more pieces should this number climb higher because this movement makes little sense to me. Seton Hall is one of the most anemic offensive units in basketball and Kansas has been forcing possessions with new faces out there early in the season.

Kansas’s offense hit a wall in scoring production in the Battle 4 Atlantis, being held under 70 team points scored in the final two games while being unable to comfortably pull ahead from their competition. This has dipped their AdjO to 33rd per Kenpom.

While elite teams normally go through constant changes, this offense is struggling to adapt so far into the season and it’s not looking to be fixed anytime soon. Possessions seemed forced while trying to create offense through a one-on-one style of play. 

Outside of on court play, Kansas has had issues with trying to fix it at practice with coach Bill Self saying he has had to bench star freshmen Grady Dick for not being able to adapt to a more team style of play. 

Going against Seton Hall in this matchup will do their offense no favors as this is an elite defensive unit. They currently rank 36th in AdjD and top-40 in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency. They use their length to stretch out the court and force opposing offenses into low quality shots and limited looks down low.

(Tallysight pick tile here)

Seton Hall Vs. Kansas Key Matchups

Can Seton Hall find offensive life against Kansas? How will Kansas crack Seton Hall’s defense?

Seton Hall scoring production vs Kansas defense

While Seton Hall has played defense at an elite level, their offense has been a whole other story. Simply put, they have a long way to go if they want to be a viable complete unit as this team struggles to score at a consistent rate.

Seton Hall ranks well below average in Effective FG Percentage and Turnover Percentage, a bad recipe for offensive success. Kansas is still elite on the defensive end, currently ranking 13th in AdjD per Kenpom.

The Pirates currently play ten players meaningful minutes with only three of them in double digit scoring. They will need to turn their defense into offense by causing Havoc if they want a chance at generating the upset because they have not proven to score in half court sets at this point of the season.

Kansas interior offense vs Seton Hall defense

While Kansas has had offensive identity problems, they have excelled at getting quality looks underneath the perimeter. They will need to do the same against this lengthy defense, forcing Seton Hall to scramble and create gaps for Kansas to make cuts and exploit the openings.

By creating gaps, Kansas can take higher quality shots or make the extra pass for the open man on the perimeter. This could bode well for Grady Dick who is one of the most lethal young shooters in basketball history. If Kansas can get the offense facilitating early, they should have little issue setting a scoring pace that Seton Hall can not keep up with.

Verdict

Take the under in what will be a defensive display of basketball with both reeling offensive units struggling to find their identity.