Posted on
1/22/2008 5:09:06 PM
NCAA Basketball Betting – Tennessee at Kentucky
By Charles Jay
The Tennessee Volunteers (16-1 SU, 6-6-1 ATS), ranked in the Top 5 in both major polls, travels to the Rupp Arena in Lexington to take on an up-and-down Kentucky Wildcats team (7-9 SU, 5-7-1 ATS) in an SEC contest that tips off at 9 PM ET on Tuesday.
In the BetUS NCAA basketball betting odds, Tennessee is listed at -5.5, with the total posted at 147.5 points.
Here are some of the NCAA college basketball betting trends and stats relative to this matchup:
* TENN has won its last 11 games SU
* TENN has covered four of its last six games
* TENN has played four of its last five road games UNDER the total
* TENN has covered four of its last five road games
* TENN has won seven of its last eight road games SU
* TENN has played five of its last seven road games UNDER the total
* KY has won three of its last 11 games SU
* KY has played four of its last six games OVER the total
* KY has won 18 of its last 25 home games SU
* KY has played five of its last seven home games OVER the total
* KY has won 10 of the last 12 meetings SU
* KY has won eight of the last nine meetings SU as the home team
* KY has covered five of the last eight meetings
* KY has had the shooting edge in each of the last nine meetings
* KY has had the rebounding edge in eight of the last nine meetings
* TENN has made more three-pointers in four of the last five meetings
* TENN averages 11.4 steals a game
* TENN hits 9.5 three-pointers per game
* TENN averages 13.4 offensive rebounds a game
* TENN scores 85.6 points per game (5th in nation)
* KY allows 64.1 ppg at home
* KY allows 38.9% shooting by the opposition
* KY averages 7.9 steals per game
Tennessee is ranked #3 in the Associated Press poll and fifth in the coaches' poll. Kentucky has taken a couple of steps back, as it struggles to get to the .500 mark for first-year coach Billy Gillespie.
Scheduling dynamics make this a bit troublesome for Tennessee (playing its third game in six days), but the Vols will make Kentucky plays every inch of the floor for all 40 minutes, and that's going to put pressure on this Wildcat squad that is so starved for depth that it has a walk-on (Mark Coury) starting regularly.
Tyler Smith (13.3 ppg, 5.9 rpg) has been a great transfer for the Vols. And Chris Lofton has pulled back a little from his role as a scoring leader to help the team achieve more offensive balance.
We appreciate Kentucky's overtime win over Vanderbilt, which pinned the first loss on the Commodores. But Wildcat performances have been too uneven, as they continue to adjust to Gillespie. They'll have problems with an explosive Volunteer squad (85.6 ppg - 5th in country) that shot 59% over the last 16 minutes to overtake Ohio State last Saturday. This is a bad matchup for Kentucky in another sense - the 'Cats commit a whopping 17 turnovers a game; only a handful of team sin the country cough it up more. Meanwhile, Tennessee and its pressure defense leads the nation in steals with 11.4 per contest.
We'll lay the points with Tennessee, the 5.5-point favorite in the BetUS college basketball betting odds.
BetUS NCAA basketball betting odds: TENNESSEE -5.5, Total 147.5
JAY'S PLAY: TENNESSEE
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(Charles Jay of TotalActionExtra.com hasn't been to Pittsburgh lately, but he's got nerves of steel. He currently is a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)