College Basketball Picks

Ole Miss vs Kentucky Prediction 2/4/25 College Basketball Picks Today

Kentucky (15-6) vs. Ole Miss (16-6)
February 4, 2025 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: Ole Miss -3.5; Over/Under: 157
(Get latest betting odds)

The Kentucky Wildcats and the Ole Miss Rebels meet Tuesday in college basketball action from the Pavilion. Here’s an Ole Miss vs Kentucky prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Ole Miss vs Kentucky pick.

Kentucky Wildcats Betting Preview

The Wildcats have been rolling along at a nice clip for most of the year. That said, Kentucky has run into some losses over their last handful of outings. During a 7-0 opening run, the Wildcats took out Wright State, Bucknell, Duke, Lipscomb, Jackson State, Western Kentucky, and Georgia State in succession. Kentucky lost to Clemson, then hit a 5-1 stretch that included wins over Gonzaga, Colgate, Louisville, Brown, and Florida among a loss to Ohio State. Since then Kentucky has been on a 3-4 run. The Wildcats have losses to Georgia, Alabama, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas in that time, winning otherwise over Mississippi State, Texas A&M, and Tennessee. The result so far has been a 15-6 overall run through their first 21 games this year.


In the Arkansas game on Saturday, the Wildcats entered the second half in a 46-45 deficit. Kentucky didn’t end up getting any closer than that, posting a 43-34 run for an 89-79 loss in the end. Leading the team in the losing effort was Amari Williams, who notched a double-double on 22 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and one steal. Jaxson Robinson added 20 points with three rebounds and two assists, while Ansley Almonor put up 12 points with three boards and two assists. Otega Oweh chipped in 10 points with two rebounds as well.

Ole Miss Rebels Betting Preview

Over on the Rebels’ side, their year similarly started quite well through the middle part of January. Ole Miss has taken some lumps lately during a run of difficult matchups, though. In an 11-1 start, the Rebels lost to only Purdue, otherwise taking out Long Island U, Grambling, South Alabama, Colorado State, Oral Roberts, BYU, Louisville, Lindenwood, Southern Miss, Southern, and Queens U in that time. Following a loss to Memphis, the Rebels beat Georgia, Arkansas, LSU, and Alabama in their next four. Since then Ole Miss is just 1-4 with a lone win over Texas. Otherwise, it’s been losses to Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Missouri, and Auburn for a 16-6 record so far through the first 22 games of the 2024-25 season.

Matched up against Auburn in their Saturday game, the Rebels went into the locker room trailing 41-34. Ole Miss didn’t end up getting any closer than that on a 51-48 second half and took the loss at home 92-82. Leading the team in the defeat was Sean Pedulla with 29 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists. Matthew Murrell added 17 points with four rebounds, while Jaemyn Brakefield had 12 points with five rebounds, one assist and one steal. Malik Dia chipped in nine points with four rebounds and three assists as well.

Why the Ole Miss Rebels will win

  • Ole Miss has won 10 of its last 11 night games.
  • Kentucky has lost three of its last four games.
  • Kentucky has lost the first half in each of its last four games against the Southeastern Conference.

Why the Kentucky Wildcats will win

  • Ole Miss has lost 20 of its last 21 games against AP-ranked opponents.
  • Kentucky has won nine of its last 10 games against AP-ranked opponents.
  • Ole Miss has lost the first half in five of its last six games against the Southeastern Conference.

Total Points Facts

  • Eighteen of Ole Miss’ last 19 night games against AP-ranked opponents have produced a total of 155 or fewer points.
  • Each of Kentucky’s last three night games at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss have produced a total of 156 or fewer points.

Ole Miss vs Kentucky Prediction

I’m going to take a stab at Ole Miss here. The Rebels are coming off a tough matchup versus a very good Auburn team, but they didn’t play too badly in the defeat—outside of the 41-30 rebounding deficit and 48.4 percent shooting allowed, that is. Ole Miss shot 46.4 percent from the field themselves and scored 17 points off 12 Tigers turnovers. The 24-of-35 (68.6 percent) from the line and 22-11 disparity in assists didn’t help either. Ole Miss has now lost four of their last five games, with all four of those losses coming to ranked teams. For the most part, however, the Rebels are still scoring pretty well in defeat.

As for Kentucky, they’ve lost three of their last four with the most two recent defeats coming against unranked (but talented) squads. The Wildcats are also scoring quite well themselves, so this one should be another fairly high total. In the end, I like Ole Miss to power out the eventual cover at home, but you could probably make a case either way.

Andrew's Free Pick: Ole Miss Rebels -3.5

Need More? Get Premium Picks

Andrew

Andrew has been writing about college, professional and fantasy sports betting since 2013. Andrew's goal is to break down the complicated numbers and trends into a language that's easily accessible to novice sports bettors and seasoned professionals alike.

Related Articles

Back to top button