Though you never want to wish harm on anyone, the Kentucky Wildcats just got a huge gift from the basketball gods on Wednesday when it was announced SEC leading Florida would be without its impact big man the remainder of the season. The door has now been kicked wide open for John Calipari’s kids to steal the conference title away from the Gators. That revenge bout on February 25 will be huge, but before that, the Wildcats will have to dispose of the revenge minded Georgia Bulldogs who nearly beat them outright as decided Rupp underdogs a couple weeks ago.
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Since dropping that ugly 88-66 decision to the Gators in Gainesville, Malik Monk and his mates have looked more like the national championship contenders many thought them to be at the outset of the season instead of the team that lost three of four to Tennessee, Kansas, and aforementioned Florida. They’ve rattled off three straight wins and covered the last two against Alabama and the Vols by an average of 6+ points per game. It’s however been beatable on the true road in going 4-3 straight up and a bankroll killing 2-5 against the spread.
The Bulldogs have had a rough go of it in SEC play. Mark Fox’s squad currently sits a game under .500 at 6-7 with two of those defeats coming in the form of overtime losses to the conference leading Wildcats and Gators. Since suffering three tough to stomach losses to Kentucky, South Carolina and Florida, The Dawgs have rattled off two straight wins against Tennessee and Mississippi State. Though its won 10 of 14 home games, it’s killed its betting backers as a host playing to a 2-8 record against the line makers.
Players to Watch
Yante Maten and Derek Ogbeide combined for 40 points, 18 rebounds and 3 blocks in these team’s first meeting at Rupp Arena back on January 31. Even with the latter going off for a game-high 13 rebounds, Georgia lost the battle of the boards 40-29. The duo must have even more of an impact this time around for the Bulldogs to have any shot in this one. It was a very poor performance when you take into account Edrice Adebayo only got to play 22 minutes due to early foul trouble. He’s the team’s best glass cleaner.
Last Meeting
If not for a closing moments jump shot that rang true, the Bulldogs would have upset the Wildcats even though it closed as gargantuan 16 point underdogs. Be that as it may, Monk had himself a game and stuck it to Georgia by scoring 31 of his 37 overall points after halftime. The Dawgs had no issues carving up Kentucky’s defense in shooting 49.2 percent from the field and draining 6 of 10 shots from beyond the arc. The Wildcats got to the charity stripe 12 more times, but only converted 75 percent of their throws.
Free College Basketball ATS Pick
You have to go back to March of 2013 to find the last time Georgia got the best of Kentucky. They’ll enter this tilt losers of seven straight in the recent rivalry and only covered two of those games with one occurring in the first meeting. The worst part about blowing a big lead and then ultimately losing in overtime was the fact that Kentucky was still able to beat them without one of their best players on the court. De’Aaron Fox missed that game with an illness, but will be healthy and ready to go for this one.
With him back in the fold to distribute the basketball and Kentucky already showing it can handle the Dawgs on the glass, I don’t foresee J.J. Frazier and company coming out of this one with a win or cover. With Florida now down a major contributor, Kentucky’s path to the league’s outright title has opened up. Look for Calipari’s kids to take advantage and steamroll their way to the decisive win and cover in Athens.
College Basketball Odds: Kentucky 78, Georgia 62
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