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Kansas coach Bill Self entered Monday’s showdown with Houston in possession of a 40-0 record in Big Monday games inside Allen Fieldhouse. That’s a fact that sounds like a lie — but it’s true. Regardless, oddsmakers made the Jayhawks slight underdogs on Big Monday at home against Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars — and, to be clear, I get it. Algorithms are algorithms. But, eventually, all algorithms are gonna have to figure out a way to take into account the reality that Self never loses at home on Big Monday.
Final score: Kansas 69, Houston 56.
So now Self is 41-0 at home on Big Monday.
Absolutely incredible.
As the “Aint No Seats Podcast” noted on X, the Jayhawks have actually been underdogs three times in the past two months inside Allen Fieldhouse. Those games have unfolded like this:
- 1/13/26: Kansas 84, Iowa State 63 (despite the Jayhawks closing as 3.5-point underdogs).
- 2/9/26: Kansas 82, Arizona 78 (despite the Jayhawks closing as 5-point underdogs and playing without Darryn Peterson, the favorite to go No. 1 in the 2026 NBA Draft).
- 2/23/26: Kansas 69, Houston 56 (despite the Jayhawks closing as 2.5-point underdogs and being only two days removed from a double-digit loss at home to a Cincinnati team that entered just 1-9 in Quadrant-1 opportunities).
Bottom line, Allen Fieldhouse is a special place — what happened Saturday notwithstanding. The Jayhawks lose there sometimes, sure. But, at this point, under this coach, it should probably never be the expected outcome.
Kansas is up to No. 11 in Tuesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Duke remains No. 1 for the third consecutive day. Houston is down to No. 6. Next up for the Jayhawks is Saturday’s game at Arizona. FYI: those two teams now have the third-best odds (Arizona) and the ninth-best odds (Kansas) to win the 2026 NCAA Tournament, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
