Kentucky vs Princeton | Prediction & Pick

Wildcats and Tigers tangle in catfight in Tampa

The most storied program in Ivy League basketball takes on the one of the most storied programs in all of college basketball when the 13th seeded Princeton Tigers square off with the 4th seeded Kentucky Wildcats in a second round East Region matchup on Thursday in Tampa.

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#4 Kentucky (25-8, 10-6 SEC) vs. #13 Princeton (25-6, 12-2 Ivy)

Date/Time: Thursday, March 17, 2:45 PM ET
Venue: St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, FL.
Broadcast: CBS

Money Line: Kentucky -1375, Princeton +900
Spread: Kentucky -13 ½
Over/Under: 130

The Wildcats are back in the tournament for the second straight season and for the 19th time in the last 20 seasons. John Calipari is no stranger to the tournament, having taken UMass and Memphis to the Final Four previously in his coaching career. His Wildcats won the SEC Championship tournament on Sunday against Florida, and would like to see them take at least one additional step further than last year’s team that reached the Elite Eight.

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The Tigers play in the Ivy League, the only Division I-A conference that doesn’t play a conference tournament. Their league’s automatic bid is not awarded; it’s rewarded to the team that wins the regular season title. In this case, the Tigers finished tied with Harvard for first place, and needed a last-second bucket in a playoff game to get into March Madness this season.

But those unfamiliar with Princeton this season, you should be cautioned. These are not your father’s Tigers, known mostly under the guidance of the great Hall-of-Famer Pete Carril running that ‘Princeton offense’ with low-scoring games. Sidney Johnson is now the coach and has the Tigers in the big dance for the first time since 2004. And this Princeton team, while not among the nation’s top-scoring teams, can put the ball in the basket with more frequency these days.

Princeton has four players averaging double figures in scoring for the season. Both Kareem Maddox and Ian Hummer average 13.9 points per contest. Maddox also grabs 7.1 rebounds per game, while he and Hummer were second and third in the league respectively in field goal percentage.

Still, these are the Wildcats, and they play the frenetic fast-paced style that we’ve come to expect from Calipari-coached teams over the years. They too have four players averaging double digits in scoring average, led by the fearless Brandon Knight at 17.5 points per contest.

The odds makers have the Kentucky Wildcats as a -13.5 point favorite with an over/under of 130.

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Prediction: Kentucky should be able to use their athletic ability to outgun the Tigers.

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Kentucky Wildcats Betting Trends:

• Kentucky is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
• The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Kentucky’s last 5 games