Kentucky Wildcats vs Connecticut Huskies Betting Odds

Opening Line: UCONN +2 / Kentucky -2 Over/Under: 140

Time: 8:49 EST Saturday April 2, 2011 on CBS

Kentucky has had a more than impressive run to the Final 4 making it out of the killer East Region taking out Ohio State and North Carolina in the process and now they face a red-hot UCONN team that has been on fire for the last few weeks first winning the tough Big East tournament and then advancing out of the West Region.

Both teams like to get out and run, especially Kentucky, and the Huskies may have to slow the pace of the game if they are going to advance to the national title game. These 2 teams met very early in the season in the Maui Invitational and UCONN killed Kentucky 84-67. In that game Huskies’ star Kemba Walker had 29 points and he is the key guy that the Wildcats have to try to shut down.

In their Elite 8 games UCONN narrowly beat Arizona 65-63 and Kentucky looked solid in beating North Carolina 76-69.

This season UCONN has been a much better betting team at 21-12-2 ATS while Kentucky is at 16-15-1 ATS.

Walker and G/F Jeremy Lamb, who combined to score 39 points in the last win over Arizona, lead UCONN. Neither player shot lights out in the game and Walker was only 1/7 from behind the 3-pt arc. These guys are key, as they cannot get open looks from deep and the athletic guards of the Wildcats have to keep them out of the lane.

UCONN F/C Alex Oriakhi had 18 points and 11 rebounds in the win in Hawaii early this season, but he has yet to score double figures in the Big Dance. If he can score and hit the boards it will take a ton of pressure off Walker and Lamb, as they will not have to do it all.

UK is getting great play from star freshman G Brandon Knight and he is key in this game, as when he struggled the Wildcats struggle. He had a big game against UNC going for 22 points, shoting 5/11 from 3-pt land, and he grabbed 7 boards. His is the big gun, but the Huskies have to play good all-around D on a UK team that had every starter score in double figures against North Carolina.

The Wildcats F tandem of Josh Harrellson and Terrence Jones combined for 23 points and 15 boards in the UNC game and if they can rule the paint, especially on the boards, they will win. Rebounding is a concern for the Huskies, who were out-rebounded by 11 against Arizona AND they gave up 16 offensive boards.

Kentucky is very young while UCONN is very experienced and if the Huskies can pressure the Wildcats and force them to make mistakes, mainly turnovers, they will be in good shape.

In some betting trends for both teams in the NCAA Tournament UCONN is 3-1 ATS, as the one game they did not cover was their last one against Arizona, and they have an Under record of 3-1. Kentucky is also 3-1 ATS, as they have covered the spread in their last 3 games and they have an Under record of 3-0-1.

Our Selection : While we do lean to the Wildcats to come out on top, we do think that a wager on the total offers more value. The Wildcats are 4-0-1 to the under in their L5 and 7-1-1 in their L9. The Huskies while not trending to the same level as Kentucky (4-1 L5), they have allowed fewer than 70 points in all tournament games and do know that they will have to slow down the game to have any chance to win.
Take Under 140 points at Bodog.