The Kentucky Wildcats take on the Missouri Tigers. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Kentucky Missouri prediction and pick.

The Kentucky Wildcats are in real trouble. If you follow college basketball fairly closely and keep up with the sport every year, you have probably seen the shocking statistic at some point over the past few weeks: Kentucky is 4-13 in its last 17 games against ranked opponents. Upper-tier teams normally get the better of Kentucky these days. Coach John Calipari is legitimately under fire from the Kentucky fan base. He is in a genuine, undeniable slump. He used to be the coach who could wobble at times in the regular season but get everything fixed in March, when it really mattered. Now that Kentucky is struggling in the current regular season, there is very little hope — if any at all — that Calipari can fix this team and its flaws when March Madness rolls around. It's an acute crisis for a Kentucky team whose main flaw is obvious: the lack of elite shooting. Kentucky has been caught without prime shooters in recent years. The offense bogs down and there isn't a knockdown sniper to rescue possessions. Big man Oscar Tshiebwe just doesn't have enough help, and that's what UK's opponents are going to focus on when they study game tape.

Missouri is coming off a brilliant performance against Illinois in the Braggin' Rights game in St. Louis. Missouri won the neutral-court battle in a shockingly lopsided demolition of the Illini. Mizzou coach Dennis Gates threw a zone defense at Illinois. The Illini did not know how to handle it at all. The Tigers scored a quality win after getting crushed by 28 points against Kansas, the defending national champion. Missouri played a soft schedule before the Kansas game, so it was easy to doubt the Tigers heading into the Illinois game. That wipeout of the Illini changed a lot of opinions about Mizzou, but this Kentucky game is needed to cement that shift in both perception and reality.

Here are the Kentucky-Missouri College Basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.

College Basketball Odds: Kentucky-Missouri Odds

Kentucky Wildcats: -3.5 (-102)

Missouri Tigers: +3.5 (-120)

Over: 148.5 (-110)

Under: 148.5 (-110)

Why Kentucky Could Cover the Spread

The Wildcats know how big this game is. If they lose it, they're immediately in huge trouble for the SEC championship chase, because they know there are lots of teams better than Mizzou in the SEC: Auburn, Arkansas, Tennessee, maybe Mississippi State as well. Kentucky simply can't continue to lose ground, and it has to start winning games against comparable opposition. You can bet that John Calipari pushed this team in recent days, expecting to get a lot more out of the resources at his disposal. He definitely knows the stakes attached to this game.

It also needs to be said that Oscar Tshiebwe is a difference-making, leverage-bearing player in these fierce and contentious conference games. Missouri does not have a big man who can go toe to toe with Tshiebwe, and that will stand out in crunch time.

Why Missouri Could Cover the Spread

The Tigers looked so good against Illinois that it's hard to ignore how much they have improved. Missouri did everything right on offense and defense in that game. The team was well-prepared by Gates, who looks like a really good coaching hire who can move this program forward and get Mizzou basketball back to the top tier in college basketball before too long. Calipari against most SEC coaches is usually an uneven coaching matchup, but that does not appear to be the case here. The Tigers have a good tactician who can give them a winning plan.

The other thing which has to be mentioned is that Kentucky just doesn't have elite shooters. Mizzou's zone defense, which was so effective against Illinois, stands to be fairly effective against Kentucky's lineup. Missouri can pack the paint in the zone and neutralize Oscar Tshiebwe. The Tigers have the right defensive maneuvers to limit Kentucky's offense.

Final Kentucky-Missouri Prediction & Pick

The Missouri zone against Kentucky's shooting-poor offense looks like a winning formula for the Tigers at home.

Final Kentucky-Missouri Prediction & Pick: Missouri +3.5