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South Carolina vs Kentucky Prediction, Game Preview, Live Stream, Odds and Picks

Tall Task on Road for Gamecocks

Kentucky Looks to Bounce Back

This might not be the best time to make a trip to Rupp Arena to face the Kentucky Wildcats.

Kentucky is coming off a 26-point loss at Alabama and should have an extra jump in its collective steps to put forth a better effort. The Wildcats will be facing a South Carolina team that is one of two teams yet to win in the SEC play. The Gamecocks lost by 43 points on Saturday against Tennessee and that game was at home, which only makes matters worse.

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Guard CJ Fredrick and forward Jacob Toppin are both questionable for Kentucky. Toppin is fourth on the team with 10.9 points per game and is second with 6.1 rebounds per contest while Fredrick is contributing 7.3 points per game.

South Carolina is one of the worst offensive teams in the country, averaging just 64.3 points, and shooting 39.6% from the field.

Kentucky’s strength is its offensive rebounding prowess. The Wildcats are fifth nationally with 12.7 offensive boards per game and 16th with 37.2 rebounds.

Kentucky is 9-0 at home while South Carolina is 1-3 on the road.

Kentucky is still receiving votes in the coaches poll but did not receive any votes in the last Associated Press Top 25 poll.

According to the college basketball odds, Kentucky (+3300) is tied for the 16th-best odds to win the national title. USC is well back at +15000.

Let’s check the latest college basketball odds, stats, injury reports and college basketball lines for South Carolina vs Kentucky. We’ve plenty of NCAA basketball odds for you to consider.

Coming Up Empty

This has not been a strong start to the season for South Carolina as the Gamecocks are the only SEC team shooting less than 40% from the field.

The outing against Tennessee will go down as one of the worst of the season. South Carolina was shooting 32% on 3-pointers going into the game with the Volunteers, but the Gamecocks were 4 of 26 from distance in that game. The starters were 2 of 19 on 3-pointers with the backcourt of Meechie Johnson and Chico Carter Jr. a combined 2 for 14.

South Carolina has covered against the Las Vegas odds in six of the last eight games.

Working Through Growing Pains

With the second and third-leading scorers on the Kentucky team in their first seasons with the Wildcats, there have been times when a national player of the year candidate Oscar Tshiebwe has often looked like he is going at it alone.

Freshman Cason Wallace missed 12 of his 13 shots in the Alabama loss and he was 0-for-6 on 3-pointers after he had scored in double figures in his previous four games.

Illinois State transfer Antonio Reeves was one of the bright spots in the meltdown against the Crimson Tide as he was 7 of 13 from the field (4 of 7 on 3-pointers) en route to 20 points.

Reeves had a total of 31 points in his previous five games so the hope is that his performance against Alabama is a sign of things to come.

Kentucky has failed to cover against the college basketball betting lines in each of its last nine contests as well as in the last five home games.

South Carolina vs Kentucky Game Injuries

South Carolina vs Kentucky Head-to-Head

Kentucky has won seven of the last nine games against South Carolina. The Gamecocks did cover in the most recent meeting, losing 86-76 as a 10½-point home underdog.

The Wildcats have won eight games at Rupp Arena against South Carolina, with the last win by the Gamecocks in Lexington coming in 2009.

Six of the last seven games in the series finished over the total.

South Carolina vs Kentucky Game Information

  • Game: South Carolina (7-8, 0-2 SEC) vs Kentucky (10-5, 1-2)
  • Location: Rupp Arena, Lexington, KY
  • Day/Time: Tuesday, Jan. 10, 7:00 p.m. ET
  • South Carolina vs Kentucky Live Stream: ESPN

South Carolina vs Kentucky Betting Lines

South Carolina vs Kentucky Picks & Prediction

There aren’t many points spreads approaching 20 points in Power-5 conference games. However, with the way South Carolina looked against Tennessee, it is easy to understand why the Wildcats are such big favorites.

Kentucky is 10-2 as the favorite and South Carolina is 3-6 as the underdog.

The Wildcats are just 4-5 against the spread at home while South Carolina has covered three of four true road games.

The last time the teams met, South Carolina had 22 of the 30 offensive rebounds, and a similar effort will be needed for the Gamecocks to stay close in this matchup.

South Carolina is listed at +1175 in our Las Vegas college basketball lines. This means that if you wager $100 on the Gamecocks, you have a chance to win $1275. Kentucky is -2500, offering a chance to win $105 on a $100 wager.

The implied probability attached to the betting lines gives South Carolina an 8.89% chance to win, with Kentucky at 95.29%.

South Carolina vs Kentucky Edge

South Carolina vs Kentucky Results

South Carolina vs Kentucky Game Summary

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