The No. 3(AP) ranked Kentucky Wildcats will host the No. 12 Tennessee Volunteers in a SEC mens basketball game at famed Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky, tipoff set for 9 pm Eastern (ESPN).
College basketball oddsmakers at online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.com have installed the Wildcats as 10 1/2-chalk favorites versus the Vols with a 146 1/2 total. Vols backers are getting +475 odds on the SPORTSBETTING moneyline while the Cats are giving -650.
Kentucky enters Saturday's game with a 23-1,(8-1 SEC) record and a perfect 15-0 record at Rupp Arena. The Wildcats, under first-year head coach John Calipari outscore their opposition by 16.2 points per game while boasting a rebounding margin of +10.2 in SEC play. The Wildcats are shooting .465 from the field and .337 frm 3-point range. Kentucky is holding its opponents to .382 shooting overall and .304 from beyond the arc. Freshman DeMarcus Cousins averages 18.0 points and 11.0 rebounds in SEC play and has seven straight double-doubles. Freshman guard John Wall averages 15.8 points and 5.4 assists in league play. Junior forward Patrick Patterson is shooting .586 overall and is Kentucky's third leading scorer.
Tennessee is 6-3 this season against teams that currently have at least 15 wins, with the three losses coming to teams that are both in the top 15 of the NCAA's latest RPI (Purdue and Vanderbilt). Against those teams the Vols boast a field-goal percentage of .441, a +3.6 rebounding margin and a +2.3 turnover margin. Wayne Chism is Tennessee's top performer in those games, averaging 15.8 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks while shooting 81 percent from the foul line.
College Basketball Predictions: Tennessee is too good of a team to be awarding a plus double-digit chalk against anyone. While Kentucky is the better talented team, they can show their age with three starting freshman. The Cats have the potential to whip Tennessee by double-digits at home but it's a difficult pick. Look for Tennessee to cover the 10 1/2-point spread.
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