Kentucky at Missouri Odds, Free Pick & TV Info

Is No. 13 Kentucky in any danger of losing Tuesday night in SEC action at a terrible Missouri team? Probably not, but the Wildcats could be a bit sluggish if they are caught looking ahead to Saturday’s huge game with Florida for the likely SEC regular-season title. The Cats are solid favorites in NCAAB odds on Tuesday.

Kentucky at Missouri Odds, Free Pick & TV Info

When: Tuesday, Feb. 21, 9 PM ET Where: Mizzou Arena, Columbia TV: SEC Network Stream: WatchESPN Radio: Kentucky / Missouri Opening NCAAB Lines: Kentucky favored by TBA

Why Bet On Kentucky?

The Wildcats (22-5, 12-2) are tied atop the SEC with Florida. They won at Georgia 82-77 on Saturday. Freshman De’Aaron Fox scored 16 points, including six free throws in the final 45 seconds, and No. 13 Kentucky overcame J.J. Frazier’s 36 points. Frazier’s season-high effort helped keep Georgia close after the Bulldogs lost top scorer Yante Maten with a right knee injury less than two minutes into the game. Coach Mark Fox said the injury was “significant.” With leading scorer Malik Monk struggling to find his range, Isaiah Briscoe on the bench with five fouls and starring for a Georgia team desperate for a quality win, Fox stepped up and made the final five minutes his own. Things looked fairly bleak for the Wildcats with a little less than five minutes to go. Pape Diatta had just hit a 3-pointer – just his sixth of the season – to give Georgia a 64-61 lead and Briscoe committed his fifth foul after grabbing an offensive rebound. From 73-73 with 1:12 to play, Kentucky closed the game on a 9-4 run. Kentucky made 17 free throws in a row during the final 6:17 of the game, including nine straight in the final minute, before Bam Adebayo’s inconsequential miss with five seconds left. Monk’s 3-pointer with 16:15 on the clock extended UK’s streak of 1,002 consecutive games with a triple. Kentucky won the rebounding for the fourth straight game, 41-26. UK is 18-3 this season when outrebounding the opponent. Since losing the battle of the boards in the loss at Florida, UK has had an average rebounding margin of +10 during the current four-game win streak. Kentucky held Georgia to three made 3-pointers, trying the season-low by a UK opponent this year. UK has held its opponent to just three made 3s in three straight games.

Why Bet On Missouri?

The Tigers (7-19, 2-12) are second-to- last in the SEC, ahead of only LSU. They lost 90-70 over the weekend to Tennessee. The Vols led throughout the action, at times by as many as 24 points over woeful Missouri. The Tigers cut the lead to 10 briefly in the second half with 13:43 left to play, but the Vols scored the game’s next nine points and the Tigers failed to mount a serious challenge for the game’s remainder. The Vols scored 24 points off 14 Missouri turnovers, while the Tigers scored only 6 points off Tennessee’s 8 turnovers. The Tigers were led by sophomore guard Terrence Phillips, who scored 18 points while draining 4-of- 6 shots from beyond the three-point line, one short of his career-high for three-pointers made in a game. Junior forward Jordan Barnett and sophomore forward Kevin Puryear joined Phillips in double figures, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively. Mizzou drained 23-of- 30 shots from the free throw line, tying the second most makes from the charity stripe this season. The Tigers connected on 28 shots from the free throw line against Lipscomb (Dec. 29), 23 against Auburn (Jan. 10) and 23 against Arkansas (Feb. 4). The 76.3 percent mark from the free throw line ranks as the fifth-highest on the season. The entire 2016-17 Mizzou roster is made up of first- or second-year players. Not a single member of the Black & Gold has been with the squad for three seasons. This is the only scheduled meeting between UK and Missouri.

Kentucky at Missouri Free Pick: Missouri Tigers

If Missouri gets more than 15 points or so, I’d take them.