West Virginia-Kentucky Line Opens at Wildcats -4 After Scares

The West Virginia-Kentucky line had the Wildcats favored at -4 at Diamond Sports for Saturday’s third round game in Tampa, Florida. 

Both teams come into Saturday avoiding major scares. 

The 12th-seeded Clemson Tigers came storming out of the gate early against West Virginia,  building an early double-digit lead before falling 84-76 to the fifth-seeded Mountaineers in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday.   Darryl Bryant scored 19 points while Kevin Jones had 17.

"We were mixing up defenses and we were getting in the passing lanes and stuff," said the Mountaineers Dalton Pepper, who finished with 10 points on 4 of 4 shooting in 17 minutes. "I don't think they were ready for it, and we just caught them off guard and got a few steals."

The biggest scare came with Kentucky, which managed to win in the final seconds against a 13-seeded Princeton team.  The final result was a 59-57 win.

Brandon Knight scored his only points of the game on a driving layup with 2 seconds left to give Kentucky the win and its smallest margin of victory in the round of 64.

With the win, Kentucky tied North Carolina with 102 wins in the NCAA tournament, the most all-time.

Elsewhere, the line on the Butler-Pittsburgh game opened at Panthers -8.   Richmond opened with a line of -3.5 against the upset-minded Morehead State.  San Diego State opened as a -5.5 favorite vs. Temple.

Other odds for the second round in Cleveland appear below. Includes the totals.

NCAA TOURNAMENT - THIRD ROUND ST. PETE TIMES FORUM - TAMPA, FLA

NCAA TOURNAMENT - THIRD ROUND VERIZON CENTER - WASHINGTON, DC

NCAA TOURNAMENT - THIRD ROUND PEPESI CENTER - DENVR, CO

NCAA TORUNAMENT - THIRD ROUND PEPSI CENTER - DENVER, CO

- Tyrone Black, Gambling911.com