Samford Bulldogs (29-5, 18-3 SoCon) vs. Kansas Jayhawks (22-10, 10-9 Big 12)
Salt Lake City; Thursday, 9:55 p.m. EDT
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Jayhawks -7; over/under is 154
BOTTOM LINE: No. 17 Kansas plays Samford in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Jayhawks have gone 10-9 against Big 12 teams, with a 12-1 record in non-conference play. Kansas is second in the Big 12 with 25.5 defensive rebounds per game led by Hunter Dickinson averaging 8.2.
The Bulldogs are 18-3 in SoCon play. Samford is fifth in college basketball scoring 86.0 points per game while shooting 49.3%.
Kansas averages 75.3 points per game, 1.4 more points than the 73.9 Samford allows. Samford has shot at a 49.3% clip from the field this season, 8.9 percentage points greater than the 40.4% shooting opponents of Kansas have averaged.
TOP PERFORMERS: Dajuan Harris is averaging 8.3 points, 6.3 assists and 1.5 steals for the Jayhawks. Dickinson is averaging 14.4 points and 9.2 rebounds while shooting 45.4% over the last 10 games.
Rylan Jones is averaging 9.4 points, 4.7 assists and 1.5 steals for the Bulldogs. Achor Achor is averaging 13.1 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Jayhawks: 4-6, averaging 66.7 points, 33.0 rebounds, 14.7 assists, 7.4 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 42.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.3 points per game.
Bulldogs: 8-2, averaging 82.6 points, 34.1 rebounds, 14.9 assists, 7.7 steals and 3.5 blocks per game while shooting 48.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 73.0 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
