Saturday college basketball and we will see the Florida Gators travel to Rupp Arena to take on the Kentucky Wildcats. The game has a start time of 2:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on CBS. Current Vegas betting odds have the Wildcats listed as 16 point favorites, while the total is set at 123.5.
Analysis: The Florida Gators had not been playing all that well of late, but they do come in having won 2 in a row, including a hard fought 66-62 win over Texas A&M on Tuesday night. The Gators are still just 15-15 on the year, including 2-8 in true road games and 8-9 in the SEC. The Gators have gone just 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600 and 3-12-1 ATS in their last 16 games following a S.U. win. Florida has not been a good offensive team this year, ranking 252nd in scoring (64.4 ppg), 173rd in shooting (43.6%), 257th in 3 point shooting (32.4%) and 332nd in FT shooting (63.5%). Defensively the Gators have been very good this year, ranking 24th in points allowed (59.7 ppg), 74th in defensive FG% (40.6%) and 107th in 3 point defense (32.9%).
The Kentucky Wildcats come in as the top ranked team in the nation and the last team left without a blemish on their record. They did have tough game vs Georgia on Tuesday night, but they finished the game on a 16-2 run to win by a score of 72-64. For the year Kentucky is now 30-0, including 17-0 in the SEC and 18-0 at home. Kentucky has gone 7-2 ATS in their last 9 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of less than .400, but just 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games following a ATS loss. The Cats have been a solid offensive team this year, ranking 31st in scoring (74.9 ppg), 44th in shooting (46.8%), 187th in 3 point shooting (34.1%) and 97th in FT shooting (71.1%). The defense for this team has been very good as they come in ranked, 2nd in points allowed (53.5 ppg), 1st in defensive FG% (34.9%) and 3rd in 3 point defense (27.0%).
Pick: I will be going with the Over in this one. This Wildcat offense has exploded of late as they have averaged 81.2 ppg in their last 5 games, while averaging 90.3 ppg in their last 3 at home. Defensively the Cats have been solid all year long, but they may be wearing down a bit as they have allowed 65.5 ppg in their last 4 games overall, which includes allowing 71.2 ppg in their last 2 games at home. I know that Florida is offensively challenged right now, but they have scored 66 points in each of their last 2 games and they have up at least 61 points in 7 of their last 9 games. 61 from Florida here would make us golden because I don't see how the Cats don't hit at least 70 points in this one. Kentucky home games have averaged 132.4 ppg, while Florida road games have put up 128.5 ppg, plus we note that the last meeting between these teams saw 128 points scored. This one will see around 130 scored.
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