Kentucky vs. Arkansas College Basketball prediction, preview
Last year just around this time, John Calipari returned to Rupp Arena as the visiting Head Coach of the Razorbacks, and led Arkansas to a 10-point victory as an 8.5-point underdog against the school he used to coach. Now it’ll be Kentucky with revenge on its mind, in the underdog role in Fayetteville.
But Bud Walton Arena has been just about as tough as anywhere in the country to get a win as the visitor, with the Hogs out to a 12-0 start at home, including 9-3 ATS. Kentucky had its five-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday night in embarrassing fashion, getting blown out by Vanderbilt in Nashville. So can the Wildcats rise to the occasion and compete with Coach Cal’s Razorbacks on one of the best home floors in the country?
Maybe … Kentucky has been a terrific second half team lately, erasing double digit deficits on the road at LSU and Tennessee to get stunning outright wins. But one thing that’s been a common theme has been poor starts from Mark Pope’s squad, particularly on the road. Kentucky trailed by 20 points at the break on Tuesday against Vandy, continuing a trend of flat starts. Kentucky is just 1-4 ATS in true road games, and its previous road games began by going to halftime down 11 points at Tennessee, 16 at LSU, 16 again at Alabama and seven points earlier in the season at Louisville.
Arkansas surprisingly trailed its last home game to LSU at the break, but did comeback to win the game. Prior to that, the Hogs most recent home games resulted in halftime leads of 11 over Vandy, 12 over South Carolina and one point as an underdog to Tennessee. I like Bud Walton Arena to be rocking for this game, and Kentucky to continue to come out of the gates with a bit more to be desired.
I’ll lay the points with the Razorbacks in the first half.
CBB Pick: Arkansas 1H -3.5 (-110)
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