On Tuesday night, sixth-ranked Kansas meets tenth-ranked Kentucky in a battle between two of the most storied programs in NCAA men’s basketball, as part of the Champions Classic in Indianapolis. Kansas (1-1) started their season with a 102-90 setback against #1 Gonzaga at a tournament in Fort Myers, Florida. Gonzaga was able to exploit a rebuilding year for Kansas in the paint, shooting 64.5 percent and winning the battle of the boards by nine. Kentucky (1-1) had a much less excusable loss, falling at home to Richmond by 12 on Sunday.
Let’s take a look at your best college basketball betting choices for this matchup.
NCAAB: Kentucky vs Kansas (Tuesday, December 1)
When: Saturday, November 28, 2020, 3:30 pm ET
Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
TV: ESPN
Radio: UK Sports Network / Jayhawk Sports Network
Live Stream: Hulu
Why should you bet on the Wildcats?
Kentucky has to reinvent the wheel every year, thanks to the ‘one-and-done” mentality that head coach John Calipari uses to build his team. He goes out each year and sells blue-chip recruits on the chance to come and play for one year and then go to the NBA. So when he started four freshmen against Richmond, no one should have been surprised. His team coughed the ball up 21 times and went 0 for 10 from downtown. The Wildcats did have five assists but none after halftime, as players jacked up shots right and left.
In a postgame interview, assistant Joel Justus noted that it was important for this young team to become less selfish offensively, particularly in the backcourt, and that the game would be a helpful learning experience for the young players. Kentucky’s first game was an 81-45 laugher over Morehead State. The Wildcats are still waiting for Keion Brooks Jr to return from a leg injury. He is the only starter from last year who is returning; he put up 4.5 points and 3.2 boards in 15.1 minutes in his freshman year.
Why should you put your money on the Jayhawks?
Kansas did improve in their second game, using small-ball to run St. Joseph’s out of the gym on Friday, 94-72. The program’s biggest losses from a team that looked to contend for the 2020 title are big man Udoka Azubuike and point guard Devon Dotson, and the Jayhawks are trying out different lineup combinations as a result. Sophomore Christian Braun has emerged as an early bright spot, putting up a career best 30 points and pulling down nine rebounds. The depth of the Kansas team emerged against St. Joe’s, with nine different players appearing for at least ten minutes during the game. Daijuan Harris, a redshirt freshman who plays point guard, also impressed head coach Bill Self. He played just three minutes against Gonzaga but had 15 on Friday, putting up three points, three boards, two steals and five assists.
If you like Kansas to beat Kentucky, then you see the success that the Jayhawks had in their second game paying off. In a season in which no program had the benefit of pre-season scrimmages, you will see a lot of mixing and matching in the early going, and you will see just about every program struggle to find chemistry in the face of adversity — so expect some sports betting surprises in these early weeks.
Final Score and Prediction
Kentucky won the last meeting between these two teams, winning in Lexington on January 26, 2019, by a 71-63 margin. Before that, though, Kansas had won the last three meetings. If we base our pick off each team’s last game, Kentucky’s loss looks worse than does Kansas’ — and Kentucky has a lot more melding to do in terms of team chemistry, given that the team has four new starters. On that basis, I predict a final score of Kansas 81, Kentucky 73.
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