LSU vs Kentucky Prediction 1/14/26 College Basketball Picks Today

The Kentucky Wildcats and the LSU Tigers meet Wednesday in college basketball action from Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge. Here’s an LSU vs Kentucky prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best LSU vs Kentucky pick.

Kentucky Wildcats Betting Preview

Kentucky managed a spotty 5-4 overall run in their first nine games this year. The wins in that time were over Nicholls, Valparaiso, Eastern Illinois, Loyola Maryland and Tennessee Tech. After a four-game win streak over North Carolina Central, Indiana, St. John’s and Bellarmine, the Wildcats lost a pair to Alabama and Missouri. After another loss to Mississippi State last weekend the Wildcats are sitting at 10-6 overall this year through 16 games.

In the Mississippi State game on Saturday the Wildcats entered the second half with a 44-39 advantage. Kentucky kept it up in the second half with a 48-29 run and took the eventual win 92-68. Leading the team in scoring was Otega Oweh with 22 points, five assists and three rebounds. Malachi Moreno added 17 points with six assists and three rebounds over 29 minutes in the winning effort for the Wildcats as well.

LSU Tigers Betting Preview

Over on the LSU side, they kicked off the season on a great run. The Tigers managed to win each of their first eight games, a streak that went all the way to December 7 when LSU took their first defeat versus Texas Tech. After that the Tigers got back on track with wins over SMU, SE Louisiana, Prairie View and Southern Miss. The next three games were losses to Texas A&M, South Carolina and Vanderbilt though, giving the team a 12-4 record this year in 16 games overall.

Matched up against Vanderbilt over the weekend the Tigers were trailing 52-38 going into the second half. LSU got a little better from there with a 35-32 advantage but still ended up losing 84-73 in the end. Max Mackinnon led the team with 27 points, four rebounds and four assists. Marquel Sutton added 13 points with six rebounds as the only other player to reach double-digits in the losing effort for the Tigers.

Why the LSU Tigers will win

• LSU has won 16 of its last 17 night games at Pete Maravich Assembly Center against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Kentucky has lost four of its last five road games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• LSU has won the first half in 11 of its last 13 night games.

Why the Kentucky Wildcats will win

• LSU has lost each of its last nine games against Conference opponents.
• Kentucky has won 15 of its last 16 games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Kentucky has won the first half in 16 of its last 18 games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

LSU vs Kentucky Prediction

I’ll stick with Kentucky, but this should be a pretty good matchup, and you could call it either way. The Wildcats didn’t have too many issues with a decent Mississippi State team in their last outing, shooting 55.2 percent from the field with 40.9 percent (9-of-22) from outside along with a 32-27 rebounding edge, 21 team assists, 14 steals and just nine turnovers. The only real gripe was the 9-of-14 (64.3 percent) at the line, which wasn’t horrible in and of itself. Kentucky has won five of their last seven games, scoring 72 or more points in six of those seven.

As for LSU, they couldn’t keep pace in a road matchup versus a great Vanderbilt team over the weekend, despite notching 45.8 percent shooting from the field with 34 rebounds and 40 points in the paint. The Tigers’ main Achilles heel there were the turnovers (14). Otherwise, it was a pretty good road effort stats-wise. That makes three straight losses for LSU, but coming back home should provide the team a lift on Wednesday. I like this one to be pretty tight most of the way, but if Kentucky plays to their capabilities, the Wildcats should be able to power it out.