K-State Wildcats vs. TCU Horned Frogs: Big 12 Tournament game time, TV, prediction

THE DETAILS

When: 8:30 p.m. Thursday

Where: T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, Mo.

TV: ESPN2

Radio: KCSP (610 AM) in Kansas City, KKGQ (92.3 FM) in Wichita

Betting line: TCU by 2.5

Over/Under: 147.5

STARTING LINEUPS

About TCU (20-11, 9-9 Big 12):

The Horned Frogs are coming off a 74-60 loss at Oklahoma in the final game of the regular season. That was a surprising result at the end of the year, but maybe TCU will be poised for a bounce-back effort at the Big 12 Tournament.

Jamie Dixon’s team has been one of the most Jekyll and Hyde teams in all of college basketball this season. When TCU is at full strength with Mike Miles in the lineup, it is capable of blowing out the best teams in the conference. But the Horned Frogs have also lost 11 games. Miles is good to go against K-State, but center Eddie Lampkin will not play after leaving the team. TCU split its regular-season series with K-State with both teams winning at home.

About Kansas State (23-8, 11-7 Big 12)

The Wildcats are coming off a loss against West Virginia in which they didn’t have Desi Sills in the lineup, as he was briefly away from the team to attend a funeral. He is expected back in the lineup on Thursday, which is good news for the Wildcats.

K-State enters this event as the No. 3 seed after exceeding expectations this season. Keyontae Johnson and Markquis Nowell both earned first team All-Big 12 honors, and Jerome Tang was named Big 12 Coach of the Year.

Prediction

Eddie Lampkin threw a wrench into everyone’s expectations for this game when he didn’t make the trip with TCU to the Kansas City. Then he caused a huge distraction when he took to social media and accused coach Jamie Dixon of player mistreatment and making racially charged remarks.

Even after all the dirty laundry was aired, the Horned Frogs emerged as small betting favorites in this game.

It will be interesting to see how TCU responds to this news.

Will the Horned Frogs rally around their coach and play inspired basketball the same way Iowa State did last week after Caleb Grill was kicked off the team? Or will they play a lousy game with distractions looming over the team?

On paper, Lampkin isn’t a huge loss. He was averaging 6.3 points and 5.9 rebounds. He also hadn’t logged more than 30 minutes in a game since early January. K-State coach Jerome Tang said on Wednesday that he won’t change his game plan without Lampkin in the lineup.

This game will really only come down to one thing: turnovers.

The Wildcats committed 20 of them when they played the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth and things did not go well for them. TCU, which has one of the best transition offenses in the nation, scored a boatload of easy points and won 82-68.

In the rematch, K-State took better care of the ball and won 82-61 at Bramlage Coliseum. But that game comes with a bit of an asterisk, because Miles didn’t play.

Round 3 could go either way. These teams are both evenly matched and they are both capable of going on a run in Kansas City. In some ways, it’s a shame they open against each other in the quarterfinals.

I give K-State a small edge, because it has more paths to victory. TCU has to score in transition and at the rim, because it lacks three-point shooters. K-State is a more versatile team. It will also be playing in front of a friendly crowd without any drama looming over the roster.

K-State 78, TCU 77

Last game prediction: West Virginia 81, K-State 71 (Actual: West Virginia 89, K-State 81).

Season record: 22-9.

Season record against the spread: 16-15.