The Vanderbilt Commodores take on the Kentucky Wildcats. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Vanderbilt Kentucky prediction and pick. Find how to watch Vanderbilt Kentucky.
Kentucky coach John Calipari has had a roller-coaster season. He has a lot of youth on this Kentucky team, but a lot of raw talent which offered the Wildcats a high ceiling. Calipari has surely learned over the course of this regular season that he has a team which can be absolutely sensational when everything is clicking but can be dreadfully bad when it isn't hitting shots and maxing out at the offensive end of the floor. Kentucky has developed one of the best offenses in the country but has one of the worst defenses in America. The Wildcats have scored over 100 points in multiple games this season, but they have also given up more than 100 in multiple games this season. They just played a 111-102 game this past Saturday against a bad Arkansas team which had struggled to score for most of the season. That Arkansas team — one of the worst shooting teams in the SEC — had scored more than 85 points with nearly eight minutes left in regulation. Kentucky was able to play a little defense down the stretch and rally from a nine-point deficit thanks to its white-hot offense. Scoring 111 points should mean an easy day at the office for any college basketball team, but Kentucky was sweating that Arkansas game until the final two and a half minutes.
This is the unusual position Calipari inhabits. He knows his team has elite scorers such as Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham, plus the unique big-man scoring talent of Zvonimir Ivisic. Yet, as well as Kentucky plays offense, its defense is usually tissue-soft. Ivisic is a really good example of the all-offense, no-defense profile Kentucky has. Ivisic is a gifted shot creator and scorer but is a very soft and timid defender who gets bullied by bigger and more experienced opponents. Calipari faces the specific juggling act of trying to find lineups which can be good on both offense and defense. He doesn't really have one lineup which can do both. He has to mix and match and give up a little at one end in order to compensate at the other. This is the challenge facing a feast-or-famine Kentucky team as the NCAA Tournament comes closer.
Here are the Vanderbilt-Kentucky College Basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
College Basketball Odds: Vanderbilt-Kentucky Odds
Vanderbilt Commodores: +19.5 (-105)
Kentucky Wildcats: -19.5 (-115)
Over: 159.5 (-110)
Under: 159.5 (-110)
How To Watch Vanderbilt vs Kentucky
Time: 9:00 pm ET / 6:00 pm PT
TV: SEC Network
Stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why Vanderbilt Could Cover the Spread
The spread is absolutely enormous for an SEC game. Vanderbilt is not a good team, and we don't have to say anything more about that, but given how poorly Kentucky plays defense, Vanderbilt should be able to score. Kentucky has allowed very high point totals to the likes of Arkansas and Georgia at home in Rupp Arena this season. Those are not good teams, but they still scored large amounts of points on Kentucky's home floor. Vanderbilt can do the same, and as long as VU does score a lot, it will cover the spread. Kentucky 105, Vanderbilt 88, is the kind of score this game might have.
Why Kentucky Could Cover the Spread
The Vanderbilt Commodores are really bad. They have gotten blown out a lot this season, including by teams which aren't going to the NCAA Tournament. Georgia absolutely wiped out VU on the Commodores' home court. Other not-that-great teams have manhandled Vandy, so Kentucky — playing at home near the end of its season — could deliver a total demolition job of the Dores and their hot-seat coach Jerry Stackhouse, who is fully expected to be fired later this month. Kentucky by 30 would surprise exactly no one.
Final Vanderbilt-Kentucky Prediction & Pick
The over-under of 159.5 seems low. Remember when Kentucky and Alabama blasted way past the 178.5 over-under not that long ago? Kentucky's all-offense, no-defense identity makes the over a great play here.
Final Vanderbilt-Kentucky Prediction & Pick: over 159.5
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