It’s rinse and repeat for the Kentucky Wildcats. John Calipari has a brand new group of talented freshmen to coach and he has shown that he can get the best out of them. Although the Wildcats stumbled against Kansas early on in non-conference play, now that the team has had more time to come together they are about to play three quality opponents before starting SEC play. The first of those will be the Virginia Tech Hokies, who have taken their program to the next level under Buzz Williams.
This war on the floor will go down Saturday, December 16, 2017, at 2 p.m. ET at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. The game will be televised live on ESPN2. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Saturday schedule.
Opening College Basketball Odds at BookMaker.eu
Virginia Tech suffered an awful loss to Saint Louis at the start of the season, but has looked very good aside from that. The Hokies are 9-1 and have been one of the most exciting offenses in college basketball, topping 90 points in seven of their 10 games. That has led to the over being 6-2 in Virginia Tech games this season and has helped this team cover some big spreads. Virginia Tech is 7-1 ATS on the year.
The Wildcats are off to a decent start this season and now we are going to see how good this team really is. Kentucky is 8-1, but the only game in which it wasn’t a double-digit favorite was when it took on Kansas. The Wildcats are 4-5 ATS on the season and 3-5 ATS as a double-digit favorite. The over has cashed in each of the last four games for Kentucky.
Player to Watch
Coming into the season, all the talk centered around Kevin Knox and he was expected to be the team’s leader. Knox has played more minutes than anyone else, but is still learning what it takes to play at this level.
He is the team’s leading scorer with 15.2 PPG and shows flashes of his potential greatness. However, he lacks consistency and sometimes won’t enforce his will despite his skill and athletic ability.
Knox is 6’9, but settles for long jumpers far too often. In his last five games, he has been stone cold from distance, going just 5-22 from behind the arc. However, Knox is 23-35 on two-pointers in those games. Virginia Tech will give him the three-point line, but it’s up to him to figure out that’s not his best option.
Matchup to Watch
The Hokies like to go, go, go. Virginia Tech leads the nation in scoring with 96.2 PPG and it’s not just because it likes to run at a fast pace. The Hokies are leading the nation in shooting at 55.3 percent and are the second-best team in the country in three-point shooting, knocking down 46.8 percent of their three-point attempts. It’s a team effort too. Virginia Tech’s top eight scorers are all hitting at least 45.8 percent from three, a stat that is hard to get your head around.
Kentucky will likely be more than happy to run with the Hokies. Calipari lets his guys play fast and loose and while this tempo might not suit them the best, he likes to see what his team is made of early in the year.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
One thing to watch in this one is turnovers. Kentucky turns the ball over at a very high rate for a team with this much talent and that’s a scary proposition against a team like Virginia Tech.
I believe the Wildcats will be favored coming into this one, but Virginia Tech has a great chance to pull off the upset. This team has no fear and won’t be afraid to fire away no matter who they are going against. This game will be fun.
College Basketball Odds: Virginia Tech 87, Kentucky 83
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