Saturday college basketball and we will see the South Carolina Gamecocks 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 ESPN. Current Vegas betting odds have Kentucky listed as 17.5 point favorites, while the total is set at 121.  

Analysis:  The South Carolina Gamecocks come in off a nice 65-60 home win over the Missouri Tigers. Still this team has been struggling as they have won just 3 of their 8 games in SEC play so far. Overall they are 12-11, including just 1-6 on the road. SCU has gone 1-11 ATS in their last 12 vs. the SEC and 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600. The Gamecocks have not been a good offensive team this year, ranking 194th in scoring (66.8 ppg), 270th in shooting (40.4%), 327th in 3 point shooting (29.5%) and 40th in FT shooting (73.3%). The defense for this team has been very good as they come in ranked, 60th in points allowed (61.3 ppg), 8th in defensive FG% (37.4%) and 43rd in 3 point defense (30.7%). 

The Kentucky Wildcats come in as the top ranked team in the nation and the last team left without a blemish on their record.  For the year Kentucky is 24-0, including 11-0 in the SEC and 15-0 at home. Kentucky has gone 5-2 ATS in their last 7 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of less than .400, but just 0-5 ATS in their last 5 vs. te SEC. The Cats have been a solid offensive team this year, ranking 50th in scoring (73.5 ppg), 67th in shooting (46.1%), 158th in 3 point shooting (34.7%) and 140th in FT shooting (69.9%). The defense for this team has been very good as they come in ranked, 2nd in points allowed (52.2 ppg), 1st in defensive FG% (34.2%) and 6th in 3 point defense (27.4%).

Pick: Let's go with the Under in this one. The Cats are an excellent defensive squad, especially at home where hey have allowed just 52.1 ppg. I do not see them giving up a whole lot in this game s a struggling South Carolina squad that has averaged just 56.3 ppg in their last 6 games and 58.5 ppg on the road, plus we note that earlier in the year they scored just 43 points off this defense at home. On offense the Cats have been rather average of late as they have averaged just 67.1 ppg in their last 7 games, while South Carolina has allowed just 62.8 ppg in their last 5 games. This should be a slow paced game between two teams that are struggling on offense and play solid defense. The first matchup saw just 101 points being scored and this one should see no more than 112-115 scored. 

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