Louisville vs. Kentucky Betting Line
Carrie Stroup here with your Louisville vs. Kentucky betting line for Saturday’s College Basketball Game of the Day. Be sure to claim your FREE $100 BET at Sportsbook.com here and remember you can wager on every play of this game right up to the final minute with LIVE IN-PLAY BETTING.
Sportsbook.ag Line: Louisville -3
No. 6 Louisville and No. 18 Kentucky will duke it out for state supremacy Saturday afternoon in Rupp Arena with Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino facing his former team in this contest between the past two national champions.
The reigning nation champion Cardinals have yet to beat a ranked team this year and fell to their only ranked foe of the season, then-No. 24 North Carolina. They won and covered in their lone road game, at Florida International, and have covered in four of their past five lined contests, making them 6-4 ATS. The Wildcats have played a stronger schedule and struggled, losing to all three of their ranked foes: Michigan State, Baylor and North Carolina. They are 4-6 ATS now after going 2-5 ATS in their past five games. Both of these teams are strong on the boards with Kentucky raking in 44.1 RPG (7th in Div. I) and Louisville pulling in 41.1 RPG (20th in Div. I). The Cardinals offense ranks 11th in the nation with 86.2 PPG. Louisville won when these two teams played last season, though the Wildcats covered. Kentucky beat the Cardinals in the 2012 Final Four en route to its national championship. The Wildcats have now won seven of the past 10 meetings between these two programs, going 7-2-1 ATS in the process.
Louisville star SG Russ Smith spurned the NBA to come back for his senior season and is making it count with 16.8 PPG and 5.0 APG. His passing is up significantly over last season, already having recorded two double-digit assist performances. Chris Jones (13.5 PPG, 2.7 APG) joins him in the backcourt, though he has struggled in his past two games after suffering a wrist injury, scoring a total of 14 points in those two. He and Smith form a nasty defensive duo, combining for 3.8 SPG. Montrezl Harrell (12.5 PPG, 8.3 RPG) has come into his own as a sophomore, and leads the team in rebounding, getting help down low from junior Chane Behanan (8.3 PPG, 6.2 RPG). Wayne Blackshear (10.3 PPG) is the team’s final double-digit scorer, but don’t forget about senior Luke Hancock (7.8 PPG), who went off in the Final Four last year and won Most Outstanding Player.
Once again, Kentucky head coach John Calipari has assembled the nation's top crop of freshman, though it is clearly taking them time to gel. Freshman PF Julius Randle (18.2 PPG, 11.3 RPG) is the reason this team is so good on the boards, recording a double-double in eight of the team’s 11 games thus far. He gets plenty of help from C Willie Cauley-Stein (9.3 PPG, 8.0 RPG), who is posting a ridiculous 4.2 BPG, discouraging any would-be drivers. Freshman SG Aaron Harrison (15.1 PPG, 2.3 APG) ranks second on the team in scoring and is finding his footing, having posted back-to-back, 20-point efforts in the team’s past two contests. His twin, PG Andrew Harrison (10.6 PPG, 3.5 APG) hasn’t scored as much, but is the team’s top passer. Another big threat is freshman SG James Young (13.4 PPG), who is hitting 2.2 threes per game.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
