College Basketball Betting – (18) Arkansas at (1) Kentucky
(18) Arkansas Razorbacks at (1) Kentucky Wildcats (-15, 135.5 o/u)
The No. 1 Kentucky Wildcats (28-0, 15-0 SEC) will look for their 29th consecutive win today when they host the No. 18 Arkansas Razorbacks (23-5, 12-3 SEC) this Saturday at Rupp Arena (4:00 p.m. Eastern).
Kentucky improved to 28-0 on the year with a win over Mississippi State on Wednesday Night (74-56). Freshman forward Trey Lyles led the team with a career-high 18 points.
Kentucky coach John Calipari, who had watched his team put in some lackluster efforts of late, was happier with the hustle on Wednesday.
“I just told the guys, ‘Look, I can fight you for the next 40 days if that’s what you want. And I will fight you … Or you can just play like you’re capable of playing. They know what we want them to do,” said the coach, whose team responded in kind.
Tonight, Kentucky will be facing the only other ranked team in the SEC. The Razorbacks have moved up to No. 18 in the nation on the strength of a seven-game winning streak. Last time out, Arkansas edged Texas A&M, 81-75.
They raced to a huge 49-26 halftime lead, but got all they bargained for in the second half, narrowly holding off a tenacious comeback effort from the Aggies.
The huge first half was nothing new for the high-scoring Razorbacks, who average 79.5 PPG (ninth in the nation).
“It was fun because everyone was clicking on all cylinders,” said Arkansas’ Bobby Portis, who scored 22 points. “I feel like almost every shot that I took or [Bell] took was going to go in.”
Last season, Arkansas upset the Wildcats in Kentucky, 71-67, covering as ten-point underdogs. Portis and Bell will have to keep shooting the lights out if they want to repeat the feat this season.
Looking at the betting trends, the Wildcats are just 1-4 ATS in their last five against the Razorbacks, and today’s spread is at a decently high 15.
Over/under-wise, the total has stayed under in four of Arkansas’ last five on the road and in 14 of Kentucky’s last 20 at home. The o/u is sitting at a mid-range 135.5 at the moment.
(Photo credit: Mark Barron (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
