Kentucky Wildcats vs. Kansas Jayhawks Betting Picks

The 1-1 Kentucky Wildcats will go on the road Tuesday night to face off with the 1-1 Kansas Jayhawks at 7:30 PM ET in Cameron Indoor Arena. You can watch the top-10 matchup on ESPN. The Jayhawks come in as four-point home favorites and we’re expecting plenty of points with a 145 over/under. Both of these teams already have a loss and the loser will drop below .500. Let’s dive into how this one will go down and who will end up covering the spread. Make sure to check out the rest of my NCAAB Picks and Predictions for this upcoming week of games.

• Wildcats are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games following a straight-up loss.
• Jayhawks are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games following a straight-up win of more than 20 points.
• Over is 10-1 in Wildcats last 11 games following a straight-up loss.
• Over is 4-0 in Jayhawks last 4 neutral site games.

The Wildcats were shocked in their second game of the season by the Richmond Spiders, who beat them 76-64 in a game that Kentucky led at halftime. They turned it over 21 times and went 0-10 from beyond the arc. The Wildcats are led by freshman Brandon Boston Jr., who was the number two recruit in the class for many. Boston has averaged 17.5 points and 8.5 rebounds He’s joined by 6’7 freshman guard Terrance Clarke (13.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists), who is a man among beasts at PG.

They’ll need some help from the experienced senior Olivier Sarr, who transfers from Wake Forest after putting up 13.7 points and nine rebounds a game in 2019. He’s a beast and he will be a big-time player at Kentucky. Devin Askew is the most important role player on the squad and they need him to put up more than seven points per game. This isn’t a team that’s going to be deadly from three, but they have to at least hit five or six to win this game.

After losing a back-and-forth ballgame to Gonzaga in the opener, Kansas took care of business against St. Joes and moved to 1-1 on the season. They aren’t nearly as young as Kentucky, led by senior guard Marcus Garrett, who’s coming off a 2019 Defensive Player of the Year Award. He has moved over to PG while junior Ochai Agbaji has taken over the primary scoring role.

Sophomore SG/SF Christian Braun is the Jayhawks x-factor this season. He put up 30 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 assists against St. Joes and will be a big part of the attack against Kentucky. They’re a different team when he can come in and drop 10-12 points a half. This is still a young team, but they have a bit more playing time together under their belt.

The Wildcats didn’t look good in their last game, but I really don’t care. This is an extremely young team and they’re going to look a lot different game to game. The young guns will be ready to go after losing and facing another top-10 team. The Wildcats are going to be the better team by year’s end, but it’s close right now. I see this one as a toss-up and the four points is a nice plus for Kentucky.

Both of these teams can play defense, but they haven’t shown it through two games. On the Kansas side, it looks like they sorely miss Udoka Azubuike and Devon Dotson. Garrett is phenomenal, but he can only do so much. Kentucky is just young and still learning how to play team defense. The Kentucky defense relies on help and these young guys will take a few weeks to fully get it. Give me the over.