It was a wild day in the first half of the Round of 64. Top-seeded teams Baylor, SMU, Iowa State and Virginia Commonwealth all made an early exit. There was no such madness on Kentucky’s side. The highly-touted Wildcats took one step closer to Indianapolis with a big win against Hampton.
The road only gets rougher from here on out. Next up for Kentucky is one of the best defensive teams in the nation, Cincinnati. The Bearcats may just have the right amount of hustle on defense to cause Kentucky some discomfort.
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[sc:MarchMadness ]March Madness No. 1 Kentucky Wildcats vs. No. 8 Cincinnati Bearcats Preview
Where: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY
When: Saturday, March 21, 2:40 PM ET
Line: No. 1 Kentucky Wildcats vs. No. 8 Cincinnati Bearcats – view all March Madness lines
Betting on the Kentucky Wildcats
Kentucky was all business in the Round of 64 as the Wildcats thoroughly dismantled the Hampton Pirates 79-56 on Thursday night. But the final score doesn’t tell the complete tale of Kentucky’s dominance. It led by as much as 35 points midway through the second half before easing up on its overmatched foes. The Wildcats shot 46 percent from the field and outrebounded Hampton 51-31.
[sc:NCAAB240banner ]Kentucky’s freshman forward Karl-Anthony Towns was spectacular in the win. He had team-highs of 21 points and 11 rebounds. 11 of Towns’ points came on second-chance opportunities. He should have his fair share of looks for second-chance points against a Cincinnati side which allowed 21 offensive rebounds to Purdue.
Speaking of offensive rebounds, senior forward Willie Cauley-Stein was a monster with six rebounds from the offensive glass. He scored just seven points on 1-of-5 shooting. Don’t write off Cauley-Stein, though, as he can still be a scoring threat. Prior to the win against Hampton, he scored a combined 33 points in back-to-back games.
Expect Towns and Cauley-Stein to be front and center in this matchup. They own a size advantage over pretty much the entire Cincinnati team. The duo should also be able to draw plenty of fouls from Cincinnati’s primary big man, Octavius Ellis. The Bearcats’ Ellis has repeatedly found himself in foul trouble, averaging about three fouls per game in his last five.
Kentucky is 4-2 against the spread after a day of rest.
Betting on the Cincinnati Bearcats
Despite having leading scorer and rebounder Octavius Ellis ejected early in the second half, the eighth-seeded Bearcats managed to survive a nail-biter against Purdue 66-65 on Thursday. Troy Caupain sent Cincinnati to overtime with a buzzer-beating layup, while Coreontae DeBerry put the Bearcats ahead for good with a layup in the extra period.
Cincy’s reward for that gutsy win? A dance with national tournament favorite, Kentucky.
If the Bearcats are to do some damage against Kentucky, it’ll be through their guards Caupain or Farad Cobb. Guards have been scoring plenty of points against Kentucky. The Wildcats have allowed the likes of Michael Qualls (Arkansas), Antoine Mason (Auburn) and Quinton Chievous (Hampton) to lead their teams in scoring with an average of 21 points per game.
While Caupain is Cincinnati’s second leading scorer with 8.5 points per game, Cobb has been more of a sure shot recently. Cobb is averaging 14.8 points on 50 percent shooting over Cincinnati’s last four contests.
With Cobb making shots, the frontcourt duo of Ellis and Gary Clark should alter just enough shots from Kentucky’s Towns and Cauley-Stein to keep the Bearcats within striking distance. Ellis leads the team with 2.1 blocks per game, while Clark has 1.3 blocks per game. Opponents are shooting 42 percent from two-point range against Cincinnati this season, 11th in the nation.
Cincinnati is 5-2 against the spread in its last seven games as underdogs.
Writer’s Prediction
Kentucky wins, but Cincinnati alters one shot too many to cover the spread.
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