LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY – JANUARY 03: Head coach John Calipari of the Kentucky Wildcats reacts in the first half against the LSU Tigers at Rupp Arena on January 03, 2023 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
A soft spot in the Kentucky Wildcats’ SEC schedule, or a season saving turnaround in Lexington?
We’ll find out soon enough, but John Calipari’s team bounced back from getting trounced by Alabama and beat by South Carolina in a big way. Kentucky has won three straight, including a win over No. 4 Tennessee 10 days ago. Tonight, the 13-6 (4-4) Wildcats are road favorites against 10-9 (3-3) Vanderbilt.
On Saturday, the Commodores won a shootout with Georgia, 85-82, but they’ve yet to win back-to-back games in SEC play. Let’s check out the odds for UK and Vandy in Nashville.
Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt odds, spread and total
Kentucky Wildcats @ Vanderbilt Commodores | Current Best Odds
Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt prediction and pick
Kentucky’s problems were very real, they didn’t have enough shooting on offense and weren’t holding up defensively. Minor injuries to Oscar Tshiebwe and Jacob Toppin didn’t help, but one injury actually did.
Sahvir Wheeler missed the Tennessee game, and Kentucky got their best win of the year. Since then Wheeler has played limited minutes off the bench, CJ Frederick entered the starting lineup, and UK is 3-0. Calipari relied heavily on Wheeler, but the 5-foot-9 point guard shot 41% from the field, 53% from the free-throw line, and averaged just 8.4 points a game.
With Frederick in the lineup Kentucky’s best players have the ball in their hands much more. Frederick gives them better spacing as a shooter, and he opens up their offense, but more importantly they’ve improved on the defensive end. The Wildcats are 94th in defensive efficiency on the season, but in their last three games their defensive efficiency is 0.907, which would be 24th in the nation. This was a much needed adjustment, but Calipari was too stubborn to make it, Wheeler missing a game forced his hand and the Wildcats season might be saved because of it.
UK -5.5
-115
spread
Kentucky Wildcats @ Vanderbilt Commodores
01/24 8:00 PM
1-2-0 (33%) on UK spread picks this season
Published on Jan 24, 2023 12:40 PM
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