Kentucky Wildcats vs Ohio State Buckeyes Betting Odds

Opening Line: Kentucky +5.5 / Ohio State -5.5 Over/Under: 140

Time: 9:45 PM EST Friday March 25, 2011 on CBS

This is a dream match up in the semifinals of the East region, as top seed Ohio State faces 4th seed Kentucky. The Buckeyes have had no problem getting to the Sweet 16 winning both their games in blowouts while the same cannot be said about Kentucky, who barely escaped their opening game winning by only 2 points before beating West Virginia by 8 points in their last game.

This game features 2 of the best freshman, and players for that matter, in the nation in Ohio State’s F Jared Sullinger and Kentucky’s PG Brandon Knight. These guys will be key and another key in this game is on the glass where UK ranks 26th in the nation in rebounds per game while Ohio State only ranks 195th.

In advancing the Sweet 16 Kentucky beat West Virginia 71-63 and Ohio State killed George Mason 98-66.

This season Ohio State was a better betting team going 18-15 ATS and Kentucky going 14-15-1 ATS.

In the win over West Virginia Kentucky shot 48% from the field and Knight was the high scorer going for 30 points. UK is a well-balanced team and in the game the F duo of Josh Harrellson and Terrence Jones combined to score 27 points and grab 18 boards. This trio of guys is who Ohio State has to worry about, as if they can keep Knight from having a huge scoring game and keep the forwards from dominating the boards they will likely advance to the Elite 8.

Ohio State was simply dominant in their win over George Mason, especially on the offensive end of the court shooting 61% from the field and an amazing 61.5% from behind the 3-pt arc. G/F David Lighty was the high scorer in the game going for 25 points on 9/10 shooting and Sullinger went for 17 on 7/10 shooting. 4 Buckeyes’ starters scored double figures in the game and Kentucky has their work cut out for them on defense. Lighty was 7/7 from 3-pt land and UK cannot allow him to have open looks from deep.

Sullinger averaged 10.1 rpg this season and he will be counted on to man the glass, but he will need help.

Betting Trends

Kentucky is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games as an underdog, 5-1 ATS in their last 6 non-conference games, and has an Under record of 5-1-1 in their last 7 games.

Ohio State is 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games as a favorite, 5-0 ATS in their last 5 non-conference games, and has an Over record of 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.

Our Selection : Sure the Buckeyes are a great team and may be able to take advantage of the Wildcats weak bench, but Kentucky has a lot of fight right now. They’ve lost 6 games since January , however the key stat here is the margin of defeat, 5 of the 6 games losses were by 4 or fewer points! Kentucky is on an 8 game winning streak and while we aren’t calling for an upset win, we do think it’s possible and getting 6 to 6.5 points makes this an easy call for us. Take the Wildcats +6.5 at Bodog.