College Hoops Sunday – UConn and Kentucky in action
Seton Hall Pirates (9-7 SU, 6-5 ATS) at Connecticut Huskies (14-1 SU, 7-4 ATS)
Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, CT — 2 PM ET
Here are some of the NCAA basketball sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* CONN has won and covered the last seven meetings SU
* Six of the last seven meetings have gone OVER the total * CONN has won the last nine meetings SU as the home team
* CONN has covered the last five meetings as the home team
* The last four meetings at Connecticut have gone OVER the total
Connecticut has won and covered the last seven meetings between these teams, and all of those wins have been by double digits. Seton Hall lacks size. Center John Garcia, with five field goals in his last four starts and more than two rebounds in only one of them, is still bothered by a knee injury, not to mention back problems, and would appear to be no challenge for U-Conn’s 7’3″ behemoth Hasheem Thabeet (10.2 rebounds, 3.6 blocks). One of Seton Hall’s forwards, Robert Mitchell, is all of 180 pounds. Did we mention that Seton Hall lacked size?
There is some genuine quickness and scoring in the backcourt for the Pirates, with Jeremy Hazell and Eugene Harvey combining for over 36 points a game, and Paul Gause is a super-stopper (2.9 steals per game). But Seton Hall is notoriously poor from beyond the arc, hitting less than 30%, and doesn’t bring much depth, so making up big deficits is a challenge.
Our PREDICTION: CONNECTICUT BY 27
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BetUS NCAA Basketball Sports Betting Matchup:
Kentucky Wildcats (13-4 SU, 8-3-1 ATS) at Georgia Bulldogs (9-8 SU, 6-5-1 ATS)
Stegeman Coliseum, Athens, GA — Noon ET
Here are some of the NCAA basketball sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* KY has won eight of the last ten meetings SU
* Six of the last eight meetings have gone UNDER the total
* KY has had the shooting edge in eight of the last ten meetings
* KY has had the rebounding edge in five of the last seven meetings
What will Jodie Meeks do for an encore? That’s not a hollow question. The Kentucky guard, who was already fourth in the nation in scoring (24.2 ppg) exploded for 54 points, hitting 10 for 15 from the three-point arc, in the Wildcats’ 90-72 victory over Tennessee on Tuesday night. For team whose season began with a loss to VMI, this was a true signature win, especially at Knoxville, with Bruce Pearl wearing the orange blazer. Kentucky’s other players scored just 36 points in that game, and so we are faced with a dilemma – the very real prospect of a letdown after that game and the possibility that UK’s players may find themselves standing around too much and watching as Meeks chasing scoring exploits.
Georgia, as you may recall, made that dramatic trip through last year’s SEC tourney, having to win two games in one day at one point on its road to the title and a berth in the Big Dance. This was not an overly talented team last year, and is rather low on offensive output; the 40 points (on 33% shooting) against Vandy last time out was kind of disgraceful, but in three games against Kentucky last year they won a game and managed to keep the other two within earshot, and they’ll seek some redemption after that disaster in Nashville as they return to the Stegeman Coliseum. Howard Thompkins (43%) and Corey Butler (45.5%) can hit the three when called upon.
