It’s been a week since either the Kentucky Wildcats or Utah Utes have been on the hardwood and each will enter play on Saturday evening coming off a loss and looking to get back into the win column here as the nonconference schedule winds down.
The Wildcats had a disappointing loss to Seton Hall last Saturday and will look to bounce back from that against Utah. The Pirates are a better team than the Utes and the Wildcats lost by a single-point. In this one against the Utes, they’ll be playing in the Rupp Arena against a team that enters the game with a .500 record.
Can Utah get the upset against a Kentucky team still ranked amongst the top-25? Or will the Wildcats dust themselves off and get back to winning as they have all year save for a loss against Duke and the upset by Seton Hall?
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Utah Utes vs. Kentucky Wildcats
Date and Time: Saturday, December 15, 2018, 5 p.m. ET
Location: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky
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Utes vs. Wildcats TV Coverage: ESPN2
This certainly looks like a transition year for Utah. The team has a lot of youth and, to this point that youth has resulted in some uneven early season performances.
The Utes had a similarly rocky start last year before turning it on late and that could certainly happen again this year. There is the talent for it. But, it seems unlikely that would start against Kentucky.
Utah comes into this game at 4-4, coming off a loss to rivals Brigham Young. In that game, the Utes were held to 59-points and lost by 15. Utah struggled to find—or create—open shots and sank just over a third of their chances.
In general, Utah has won against its lesser competition, but come up short against the better programs and Kentucky is the best they’ve faced to date.
The backcourt is the strength of this team, namely because of a single player. Senior Sedrick Barefield is one of few elder statesmen on the squad and the clear leader. He’s a strong scorer, able to attack the basket while also producing solid numbers on the perimeter.
On the wings, Riley Battin, Timmy Allen and Both Gach are useful role players while Donnie Tillman is a bit more. The sophomore is the only other double-digit scorer outside Barefield on the team. He’s got 11.4 PPG while leading the team in rebounds at 6.8 per game and assist despite playing the small forward and power forward positions.
In the post, Utah does have some size in the form of a pair of seven-footers, Novak Topalovic and Jayce Johnson. Neither are dominant players, but both have the size to allow them to be effective enough when they’re in the game.
On the other side of this matchup is a bunch more talent for Kentucky though the team is coming off their second—and certainly worst—loss.
The Wildcats have a more veteran team than they’re used to under John Calipari which makes the loss to Seton Hall the more surprisingly. Seton Hall isn’t a terrible team, but they’re seemingly on par with Utah, giving the Utes a chance.
In the loss, the Wildcats didn’t shoot as well as normal, but did since 53.6-percent of their shots in the second half, though they were only 1-for-7 from three.
The team’s weakness is its perimeter shooting. Quade Greene was, arguably, the team’s best shooter outside, but has announced he’s transferring, Keldon Johnson is an elite guard and star player for Kentucky. He’s not a bad shooter from deep, but he’s more effective from mid-range.
Still, between Johnson and Tyler Herro, this team has a solid backcourt. Johnson has 15.2 PPG and Herro is sitting at 11.6.
Inside the paint, Reid Travis and P.J. Washington form a strong tandem that stands the team well apart from Utah. They both have strong rebounding numbers to go with a combined 28.4 PPG.
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Quade had seen some reduced playing time recently, likely related to his decision to transfer, and that’s resulted in more minutes in recent games for Ashton Hagans and Immanuel Quickley. Those two will be more important going forward and will see more time on the court.
The backcourt will be important to watch for Kentucky as the Wildcats will try and shutdown Barefield as much as possible. If Kentucky can keep him in check, the Wildcats have a great chance to both with the game and cover the spread against a Utes team that doesn’t have a prolific scorer outside of the senior guard.
Keep close tabs on how both teams fair outside given the departure of the Wildcats’ best outside shooter and the lack of support around Barefield for the Utes. Meanwhile, be sure to explore all the live betting opportunities for this game at BookMaker.eu.
Key Player
Barefield is the best player for Utah and Keldon Johnson is the leading scorer for Kentucky. Those two will battle it out on the outside, but this game’s key players play down low under the basket.
Watch Topalovic and Jayce Johnson in this one. Johnson has seen an uptick in minutes over the last two games with 43 combined against BYU and Tulsa. He produced 12 points in the Tulsa game and had 12 rebounds for his first double-double of the year.
The Utes are not shooting as well as the Wildcats and are averaging six fewer rebounds. That’s not a good combination, but if Johnson—and Topalovic—can add a reliable threat under the basket in both scoring and rebounding, that certainly helps solidify the front court while opening up the outside for Barefield and giving Gach, Tillman and the rest of the smaller forwards a chance for better shots and matchups.
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With a loss to Seton Hall and drop to the middle of the top-25, it’s been a disappointing start to the season for Kentucky and the loss of a former five-star recruit in Quade just adds to the mess.
The Wildcats are also allowing the opposition to shoot 40-percent outside and have struggled from three themselves. All of this adds up to some trouble against Utah. Look for Barefield to put up the points and that’ll allow the Utes to at least hang with Kentucky for a while.
In the end, the Wildcats should still win this. Utah’s been a disappointment themselves, but the rebuilding program still matches up okay against some of the weaknesses of Kentucky.
Utah should keep this one close for a bit, but expect Kentucky to come out guns a-blazing after their latest loss, capturing the victory at home.
Be sure to check out all of the live betting at BookMaker.eu for this weekend’s college basketball action.
NCAA Basketball Score Prediction: Kentucky 86, Utah 73
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