Kentucky vs South Carolina 1/10/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds
South Carolina Gamecocks (7-8) vs. Kentucky Wildcats (10-5)
January 10, 2023 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: Kentucky Wildcats -19 / South Carolina Gamecocks +19 ; Over/Under: -
(Get latest betting odds)
The South Carolina Gamecocks and the Kentucky Wildcats meet Tuesday in college basketball action from Rupp Arena. South Carolina comes into this matchup at 7-8 overall. The Gamecocks lost to Tennessee in their last game. As for Kentucky, they’re currently 10-5 and fresh off a Saturday loss to Alabama. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
South Carolina went 5-5 through their first 10 games, losing to Colorado State, Davidson, Furman, George Washington and UAB. Since then the Gamecocks are 2-3 with losses to East Carolina, Vanderbilt and Tennessee.
In the Tennessee matchup, the Gamecocks were down 43-21 by halftime. South Carolina fell further behind on a 42-21 second-half deficit and lost 85-42 in a blowout. Meechie Johnson was the only double-digit team scorer with 19 points.
Over on the Wildcats’ side, they were 7-3 after 10 games with losses to Michigan State, Gonzaga and UCLA. Kentucky has since gone 3-2 with wins over Florida A&M, Louisville and LSU alongside losses to Missouri and Alabama.
On Saturday versus Alabama, the Wildcats faced a 35-24 deficit after the break. Kentucky was drilled 43-28 in the second half and ended up losing big 78-52. Antonio Reeves topped the team in scoring with 20 points and four boards.
PICK: I’m going to stick with Kentucky. The line’s probably a little too thick to mess with, though. Both these teams are coming off rough blowout outings to very good ranked squads, so this matchup should be at least a little more comparable. That said, Kentucky hasn’t lost to a non-ranked team since way back on November 15 against Michigan State. The Wildcats are still scoring well despite the odd dud against a top-shelf team; they’ve hit 74 or more options in four of their last five games. As for South Carolina, they’re capable of some solid points totals when the matchup is right—the Gamecocks have hit 65 or more points in six of their last eight games. Still, I don’t think they’ll keep pace with Kentucky well enough to cover here.
