Kansas State vs. Texas: How to watch, odds, predictions from ESPN, KenPom

Big 12 play is fully underway, which means another loaded midweek slate. This week, a Kansas State team off to a surprising start visits Texas, who has also started strong, for a tilt in Austin. Everybody is picking the Longhorns to defend their home-court, but can Kansas State find a way to pull off the upset?

Read below to see just how likely oddsmakers and analytics folks think that is:

How to watch

Tip-off: 8 p.m. CT

Location: Austin, TX

Channel: Longhorn Network

Vegas odds

According to the folks over at Vegas Insider, Texas is a consensus nine-point favorite over the visiting Wildcats in Tuesday’s Big 12 tilt.

ESPN BPI Prediction

Predicted winner: Texas

Predicted point differential: 12.1

Win probability: 86.4%

Matchup quality: 79.7

KenPom Prediction

Predicted final score: 75-64

Win probability: 82%

More on Kansas State at Texas

Kansas State is off to a hot start under brand new head coach Jerome Tang, who they swiped from Baylor after Tang spent over a decade alongside Scott Drew on the Bears’ bench. So far, the move is working out, with KSU getting out to a 12-1 start this season, featuring a lone loss to Butler. However, their schedule hadn’t been too strong to date, though they did defeat West Virginia in the conference play opener on Saturday.

Texas hasn’t had quite as smooth-sailing of a season. The team itself is excellent, with the Longhorns playing great two-way basketball while experimenting with some extreme small-ball lineups. It’s a fun and unique group. But their play on the hardwood is hardly the hot topic right now when it comes to Longhorn hoops, because head coach Chris Beard is dealing with all sorts of issues off the court.

Hopefully Texas continues to focus on the task at hand and not at the surrounding noise that really shouldn’t have anything to do with them. Perhaps Kansas State can catch Texas in a funk with all the outside pressure and go into Austin and land a huge marquee win for Tang.