The Kansas Jayhawks and the Providence Friars will be locking horns this coming Friday after sensational wins in the second round. Will Kansas keep on going? Or will Providence take down a 1-seed? Check out our preview below of this Kansas-Providence 2022 March Madness showdown.
Bill Self’s Jayhawks stomped on the Creighton Bluejays in the second round, as Kansas survived with a 79-72 victory over the Big East program. Ochai Agbaji led Kansas with 15 points despite struggling in the first half, while Jalen Wilson had a double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds. It was not a sexy win for Kansas, but at the same time, the Jayhawks showed they can win ugly games. Now, Kansas looks to be better with its shot after making just 40.9 percent of their field-goal attempts against the Jayhawks. Providence has been playing some nice defense in the tournament, but it should also be remembered that it is the same team that got crushed in an 85-58 loss to Creighton in the Big East tournament. The Jayhawks, who won the Big 12 tournament, is on a seven-game win streak, dating back to the regular season, with their offense pretty much holding up even against tough defensive teams like the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the TCU Horned Frogs.
Kansas is 5-1 against the spread in its last six games overall.
For the first time in over two decades, the Friars are going to dance in the Sweet Sixteen round after defeating the Richmond Spiders in the second round Saturday, 79-51. Exceptional defense and accurate outside shooting have been the top weapons of Providence so far in the tournament. In the first round, the Friars held the South Dakota State Jackrabbits to just 44.7 effective field goal percentage. The Spiders had it worse, as they only put up a 40.6 eFG%. Putting the clamps on Kansas is going to be easier said than done for the Friars, but they can at least slow Agbaji and company down. Plus, their 3-point shooting will be greatly respected by Kansas and that could leave for open spaces in the middle to attack for Providence, which has hit 20 of 44 shots from deep through two games in the National Tournament.
Providence is 5-2 against the spread in its last seven games overall.
