The Louisville Cardinals and the Kentucky Wildcats meet in college basketball action from the Rupp Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Louisville Cardinals will look to rebound from a 76-64 loss to North Carolina State last time out. El Ellis leads the Cardinals in scoring and assists as the lone double-digit scorer for Louisville so far this season, logging 17.1 PPG and 4.3 APG to lead the Cardinals in the assist department as well. Jae’Lyn Withers has 8 PPG with 4.8 RPG and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield has a team-high 6.3 RPG to lead the Cardinals on the glass this season. As a team, Louisville is averaging 61.4 points per game on 40.1% shooting from the field, 39.3% from three point range and 73.8% from the foul line up to this point in the season.
The Kentucky Wildcats will be looking for a bounce back after an 89-75 loss to Missouri in their last matchup. Oscar Tshiebwe has 15.8 PPG and 13.6 RPG to lead the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding by averaging a double-double per game while Antonio Reeves has 12.4 PPG. Cason Wallace has 12.4 PPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Kentucky so far this season. Sahvir Wheeler also has 9.1 PPG with a team-high 6.5 APG to lead the Wildcats In assists as well this season. As a team, Kentucky is averaging 78.4 PPG on 46.1% shooting from the field, 39.5% from three and 66.1% from the foul line this season.
Louisville is 4-10-1 ATS in their last 15 road games and 8-21 ATS in their last 29 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600 while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 road games. Kentucky is 0-6 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 0-5 ATS in their last 5 home games while the under is 5-2 in their last 7 games overall.
I get the case to be made on either side in this game, but, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, I’m taking Louisville and the points. The Cardinals have had extra time to prepare for this game, and even if Louisville gets beat up, I think this is a lot of points to give up in a rivalry game. Louisville may not be winning games, but the Cardinals are at least getting covers as a product of simply getting far too many points. We saw it against NC State and I think Kentucky’s just getting the name brand rub here from oddsmakers. I think this one ends up finishing as a 19-20 point win for the Wildcats, but Louisville sneaks in for a cover.