An ACC vs. Big 12 showdown takes place today at 4:00 p.m. ET between the Louisville Cardinals and the Baylor Bears. These two teams have only faced each other once, with Baylor winning 66-63 in their lone matchup in November 2016. Louisville enters this game at 18-6, while Baylor is 13-11.
Louisville is the favorite in this matchup at -6.5 on DraftKings Sportsbook. Check out my best bet for the Louisville vs. Baylor matchup below.
Louisville vs. Baylor (4:00 p.m. ET)
There is a wide gap between these two teams on KenPom, with Louisville ranked No. 15 and Baylor No. 44. Louisville’s offensive rating is 12th, and its defensive rating is 27th. Meanwhile, Louisville’s defensive rating is 107th, while its offensive rating is 23rd-best in the country.
Louisville has won four straight games and is 6-1 in its last seven contests, with its lone loss in that stretch to No. 4 Duke. The Cardinals are coming off a monster 41-point victory over NC State on Monday, February 9. Star freshman Mikel Brown Jr. is coming off a historic performance of 45 points and nine rebounds in his last game. Brown scored the most points in ACC history, topping Cooper Flagg’s 42-point outing last season. Brown’s backcourt partner, Ryan Conwell, also went off in their last game with 31 points. Brown and Conwell are the only Division 1 duo in the last 30 seasons to combine for 75+ points, 15+ rebounds, and 15+ three-pointers in a single game.
Baylor also has an elite backcourt duo of Cameron Carr and Tounde Yessoufou. Yessoufou is another talented freshman who is coming off a tremendous 37-point, six-rebound performance against BYU on Tuesday. Carr has totaled 24 points in his last two games. Louisville averages a little over three more points per game than Baylor. Also on defense, the Cardinals allow 70.9 points, five fewer than Baylor.
Louisville has won four consecutive games by at least seven points, and all 18 of its victories this season have come by seven-plus points. Although Byalor is coming off a 94-point outing, it was an outlier. Baylor has scored 73 or fewer points in eight of their last 12 contests. Besides Carr and Yessoufou, it doesn’t seem like Baylor has enough depth to keep up with Louisville for 40 minutes.
