Stuck at home for the next few weeks, John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats entertain some of their neighbors to the northeast on Friday’s sports betting calendar when the Ohio Bobcats come to Lexington. Which way to lean at BMR’s best sportsbooks?
Friday, November 19, 2021 – 07:00 PM EST at Rupp Arena
While the Ohio and Kentucky campuses may only be 200 miles apart, the basketball programs are light years apart. Things were a bit reversed a season ago when it was the Bobcats who shined brighter than the Wildcats, and Jeff Boals’ Ohio squad is once again among the NCAAB title contenders to repeat in the MAC and go dancing nest March.
Kentucky suffered through its worst showing since Calipari arrived in Lexington, failing to even reach the 10-win plateau for the first time since 1926-27 when a cat by the name of Basil Hayden was running the show. The NCAA basketball futures have the Wildcats bouncing back in a big way as the favorite to win the SEC this time around.
Numbers for today’s confrontation also have the Wildcats winning in comfortable fashion with Heritage Sports offering a 12-point spread. The total has been on the rise since first going out 143½, with that figure up to 147½ at some shops.
These two programs last got together nearly 16 years ago at the old Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati and then-No. 18 Kentucky had to rally for a 71-63 victory.
Ohio led by as many as nine before the Wildcats caught fire in the final four minutes to win the December 2005 matchup. Tubby Smith was in his next-to-last season as UK’s head coach, and sophomore guard Rajon Rondo was the team’s star.
That win gave Kentucky seven consecutive decisions over Ohio, though the Bobcats have covered the last two meetings. Ohio’s last triumph over the Wildcats was an 85-69 NCAAB score in the Mideast semifinals of the 1964 NCAA Men’s Tournament.
Ohio’s chief competition in the Mid-American Conference this campaign should come from Toledo and Buffalo. Given how things have started, it might be more correct to say it’s the Rockets and Bulls who will be chasing the Bobcats for MAC honors. Boals has Ohio off to a 3-0 start, with the Bobcats covering all three victories as the favorites.
The latest victory came Monday at home against Robert Morris, an 85-71 final that just had enough to cover a 13-point spread at the best online betting sites. The two sides battled for the first 13 minutes before the Bobcats gained control. Jason Carter (18 pts, 11 rebs) and Ben Vander Plas (17/11) each recorded double-doubles.
Carter is a 6th-year senior who returned to Ohio after playing for Xavier the last two years, and the 6-6 Ohio native already has a pair of double-doubles. He and Vander Plas are joined by Ben Roderick to give the Bobcats a deep frontcourt, and Carter’s return is helping make up for the loss of Dwight Wilson III who is dealing with a potentially season-ending knee injury.
Speaking of double-doubles, Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe currently has no equal among his contemporaries. The 6-9 junior has turned the trick in all three games, and the West Virginia transfer has an astounding 56 rebounds to go with an 18.3 scoring clip.
Mount St. Mary’s managed to hang with the Wildcats for about five minutes on Tuesday before Tshiebwe and his pals ran away for the 80-55 final. The win fell short of covering the 26½-point spread on the college basketball odds, and Tshiebwe led the way with a career-best 24 points to go with his 16 boards. Keion Brooks Jr., Sahvir Wheeler, and TyTy Washington Jr. each scored double figures, and are joined by Kellan Grady to give the Wildcats five players averaging at least 10 points per game.
While picking up those two decisive wins was a good sign for the Wildcats, the team was hit hard with the realization that CJ Fredrick is likely lost for the season due to a hamstring injury.
The transfer from Iowa had yet to appear in a game and was scheduled to have surgery this week with the prognosis being 4-6 months before returning to basketball activities. Fredrick was being counted on to improve Kentucky’s 3-point shooting after the Wildcats ranked 177th (33.5%) last season.
We know the spread is inflated a bit on the UK brand, but the total moving up also makes for a tempting play on the ‘under,’ which is exactly the direction I’m going with my free college basketball pick.
NCAAB Pick: Under 147½ (-110) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.