Kansas
Houston at Kansas: Storylines, odds, watch info for elite defenses in national spot
Two of the Big 12’s best get down to it at The Phog on Saturday evening. Houston may have the best defense in the sport. Kansas is stout, experienced and always tough at home. This should be a very cool and entertaining game.
No. 7 Houston at No. 12 Kansas
No one plays defense quite like the Kelvin Sampson-led Cougars. The swarming chaos has returned to last season’s form, with Houston leading the nation in defensive rating while leading their conference in steals, blocks and rebounds. Kansas fashions itself as a rock fighter, too, with Hunter Dickinson, Dajuan Harris Jr. and KJ Adams largely clamping opponents this year — though Adams is out with a separated shoulder. Saturday’s Big 12 headliner should be a physical, tense and narrow affair.
Few collegiate athletes live up to their name like Emanuel Sharp, who’s been precise on his treys at a 46 percent clip. He’s expected to suit up on Saturday despite a foot injury. Running mate L.J. Cryer is at 42 percent on almost seven takes a game. Houston can shoot the lights out and hit deep, dispiriting tries at any juncture:
CRY3R
📺 CBSSN | @LjCryer pic.twitter.com/KNHagrUJYH
— Houston Men’s Hoops 🏀 🐾 (@UHCougarMBK) January 18, 2025
What makes this a particularly cool matchup is the way these Jayhawks work to take away the 3-pointer. Opponents are below 29 percent on the season. It gets down to an even uglier 25.8 percent in Big 12 games.
Zeke Mayo has been heating up, hovering around 19 points per game across his last nine. He’s a full 20 percentage points better behind the arc at home than on the road. Dickinson looked particularly locked in and fired up against TCU, and his performance in the prior game against Kansas State was sheerly dominant.
Kansas leads the head-to-head, 6-3. Bill Self’s side had won four straight before last year’s 30-point blowout loss in Houston. Cryer had 11 points in that game, while Dickinson left with a shoulder injury midway through the second half.
All-time NBA starting lineup: Houston
- G — Don Chaney
- G — Otis Birdsong
- F — Clyde Drexler
- F — Elvin Hayes
- C — Hakeem Olajuwon
All-time NBA starting lineup: Kansas
- G — Jo Jo White
- G — Andrew Wiggins
- F — Paul Pierce
- F — Joel Embiid
- C — Wilt Chamberlain
Houston vs. Kansas odds
Odds to come.
(Photo of L.J. Cryer: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A Kansas fire department is asking people to be more careful about what they throw away.
The Mulvane Fire Department was called to a vehicle fire Wednesday afternoon. The driver of a trash truck had smelled something burning and pulled over to call 911.
When firefighters arrived, they found smoke coming from the back of the truck. In the trash bay, a firefighter discovered a discarded laptop computer with a lithium battery that was heating up.
The department said it was able to remove the battery from the truck and flood the truck with water to cool off the trash. This is the second incident involving a lithium battery crews have responded to this month, according to Mulvane Fire.
Lithium is highly reactive, and when batteries are damaged, they can heat up uncontrollably. The reaction cascades, with the battery getting hotter and hotter until all of the lithium is consumed. In some cases, when exposed to oxygen, lithium can ignite instantly.
The fire department is urging residents to never throw computers or anything with batteries in the trash. Sedgwick County offers this free recycling guide with information on how to properly dispose of a wide variety of household goods and chemicals.
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A power outage is affecting parts of the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium, leaving some areas and services temporarily limited.
The Zoo announced the outage on Wednesday morning, June 17, saying the webstore and other services may be unavailable while crews work to restore power.
Evergy’s outage map shows the disruption – located near the zoo – is affecting 17 customers. The outage was first reported just before 8:50 a.m. Power is expected to be restored around 10:30 a.m.
The Zoo is asking for the public’s patience as Evergy works to resolve the issue.
The cause of the outage has not yet been identified.
Copyright 2026 KCTV. All rights reserved.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A car crash turned into a homicide investigation for Kansas City police.
Officers found a car that had crashed into a pole at Truman and Bennington around 6:30 p.m. on June 16. They discovered a man inside the car with critical injuries.
Emergency crews transported the man to a hospital. As he was treated at the hospital, doctors determined he’d been shot. The man died from his injuries, according to police.
Detectives are investigating the shooting as a homicide.
They are looking for witnesses or anyone who witnessed the shooting or the crash. Anyone who has information is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS or the police department at 816-234-5043. There is a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest.
Copyright 2026 KCTV. All rights reserved.
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