Middle Tenn State at Kansas

No. 17 Kansas beat Fordham by 31 on Monday, November 2, and a result like that, plus the preseason ranking, is what built this number. Middle Tennessee also opened Monday, beating Fisk 117-73 at home, so each club brings one game of tape into tonight. The Blue Raiders have five returners and nine newcomers, including Penn State transfer Eli Rice and Oral Roberts transfer Ofri Naveh. I give last season's numbers very little weight for this group. Kansas is rebuilt around Tyran Stokes, the consensus top-ranked recruit in the 2026 class, and plays Kentucky on Tuesday. Bill Self is in his 24th year at Kansas, and I expect him to clear his bench once this game is decided. That sends minutes to reserves who have barely played together. Middle Tennessee has size to stay on the floor with the Jayhawks. Kaleb Siler is 6-foot-10, Luka Jovanovic is 6-foot-11, and Jarred Hall is 6-foot-9, so the glass should not get away from the Blue Raiders early. Kansas needs a bench-heavy second half to keep pace with a scoring margin that big, and a team that just put up 117 points will have shots to take against it. Take Middle Tennessee with the points tonight.