{"id":55295,"date":"2015-03-15T02:58:39","date_gmt":"2015-03-15T06:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/?p=55295"},"modified":"2015-03-15T04:32:56","modified_gmt":"2015-03-15T08:32:56","slug":"arkansas-razorbacks-vs-kentucky-wildcats-2015-sec-championship-final-march-15-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/arkansas-razorbacks-vs-kentucky-wildcats-2015-sec-championship-final-march-15-2015.html","title":{"rendered":"Arkansas vs. Kentucky \u2013 2015 SEC Championship Final \u2013 March 15, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Kentucky Wildcats are showing why they\u2019re the team to beat heading into this year\u2019s national tournament. They made quick work of Florida and Auburn to make it back-to-back appearances in the SEC tournament championship game.<\/p>\n<p>But the Wildcats could have their work cut out for them this time around. They face the SEC\u2019s top offense in the Arkansas Razorbacks. Tune in as these two explosive teams attempt to capture the SEC tournament crown.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s plenty more conference championship games in store. Check out our complete previews for Big Ten\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/michigan-state-vs-wisconsin-2015-big-ten-championship-final-march-15-2015.html\" target=\"_blank\">Michigan State vs. Wisconsin<\/a> and AAC\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/connecticut-vs-smu-2015-aac-championship-final-march-15-2015.html\" target=\"_blank\">Connecticut vs. SMU<\/a>.<\/p>\n[sc:MarchMadness ]\n<h2>Arkansas Razorbacks vs. Kentucky Wildcats Preview<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Where:<\/strong> Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee<\/p>\n<p><strong>When:<\/strong> Sunday, March 15, 1:00 PM ET<\/p>\n<p><strong>Line:<\/strong> Arkansas Razorbacks (<strong>+13<\/strong>) vs. Kentucky Wildcats (<strong>-13<\/strong>) \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/sportsbook\/college-basketball\/ncaa-mens\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>view all NCAA Basketball lines<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Betting on the Arkansas Razorbacks<\/h3>\n<p>Second-seeded Arkansas stumbled toward the end of the regular season, dropping two of its\u00a0last three. But the Razorbacks have been money in the SEC tournament with two dominant wins over Tennessee and Georgia, covering the spread in both games.<\/p>\n<p>[sc:NCAAB240banner ]Junior guard Michael Qualls has been excellent\u00a0in the tournament so far. He\u2019s averaging 17.5 points per game on 44 percent shooting. Keeping his play up-to-speed is crucial for the Razorbacks. He led the team with 17 points and nine rebounds against Kentucky on February 28, an 84-67 blowout loss.<\/p>\n<p>Leading scorer Bobby Portis struggled in the semifinal win over Georgia, though. He made just 1-of-14 shots for a season-low four points. It was only his second game this season to score in\u00a0single digits. Considering he had 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting in the first game against Kentucky, expect him to bounce back with a better effort from the floor.<\/p>\n<p>Portis is also the Razorbacks\u2019 go-to big man on the boards averaging 8.8 rebounds per game (fourth in the SEC). He stands at 6\u201911\u201d tall, so he doesn\u2019t give up too much size against Kentucky\u2019s Willie Cauley-Stein or Karl-Anthony Towns. As a team, Arkansas was outrebounded\u00a038-32 in the loss against Kentucky.<\/p>\n<p>The Razorbacks need more from their bench for them to have the chance of an upset. The Arkansas bench was outscored 24-7 by Kentucky in their earlier matchup. But Arkansas&#8217; backups have done better leading up to this game, averaging 17.3 points in four games since.<\/p>\n<p>Arkansas is 4-2 ATS in its last six games against Kentucky.<\/p>\n<h3>Betting on the Kentucky Wildcats<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Willie-Cauley-Stein.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-55301\" src=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Willie-Cauley-Stein-600x426.jpg\" alt=\"Willie Cauley-Stein\" width=\"600\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Willie-Cauley-Stein.jpg 600w, http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Willie-Cauley-Stein-250x178.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pressure doesn\u2019t seem to get in No. 1 seed Kentucky\u2019s way. The Wildcats are an undefeated 33-0 (20-0 in conference play) and are 7-1-1 ATS in their last nine games.<\/p>\n<p>Kentucky was extremely efficient in its\u00a0semifinal win over Auburn. Willie Cauley-Stein led the team with 18 points and Andrew Harrison chipped in 14 of his own. Aaron Harrison added 12 points, while Trey Lyles and Devin Booker also scored 12 each off the bench. These five Wildcats scored 62 of Kentucky\u2019s 84 points in their regular season win over Arkansas.<\/p>\n<p>Cauley-Stein finished with just seven points on 3-of-6 shooting against the Razorbacks. But he did his best work on defense with four blocks and two steals. One of the Harrison twins, Aaron, also had a big day on defense. He had a season-high five steals against the Razorbacks.<\/p>\n<p>Kentucky should be pretty confident heading into this game. It has a suffocating defense (third in the nation with 53.7 points allowed per game) that could shut down Arkansas\u2019 fast-paced attack. The Wildcats held Arkansas to 38 percent shooting, including 28 percent from downtown.<\/p>\n<p>The Wildcats should be up for another sound defensive effort. Towns and Cauley-Stein are both strong defenders in the paint. They both rank\u00a0in the SEC\u2019s top five in blocks per game with 2.3 and 1.6 respectively.<\/p>\n<p>The Wildcats are 7-0-1 ATS in their last eight games as double-digit favorites.<\/p>\n<h3>Writer\u2019s Prediction<\/h3>\n<p>Kentucky\u00a0crushes Arkansas for a sparkling 34-0 record. Take the Wildcats to cover <strong>-13<\/strong>. <a title=\"Join Top Bet Sportsbook\" href=\"http:\/\/record.tbaffiliate.com\/_y8k7RB3Ll4xutv7iXV6HvmNd7ZgqdRLk\/6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"broken_link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Create a betting account now<\/a> and cash in on college basketball\u2019s hottest team.<\/p>\n[sc:NCAAB490Banner ]\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"pvc_stats all \" data-element-id=\"55295\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> &nbsp;2,268&nbsp;total views, &nbsp;1&nbsp;views today<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Kentucky Wildcats are showing why they\u2019re the team to beat heading into this year\u2019s national tournament. They made quick work of Florida and Auburn to make it back-to-back appearances<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"pvc_stats all \" data-element-id=\"55295\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> &nbsp;2,268&nbsp;total views, &nbsp;1&nbsp;views today<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":55300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[393,70],"tags":[2924,372,3045,3048,3047,3046,149,711,1276,1170,835,969],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Arkansas vs Kentucky Predictions \u2013 2015 SEC Championship<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Predictions, picks and preview for the Arkansas Razorbacks vs Kentucky Wildcats SEC Championship on Mar. 15, 2015, courtesy of Top Bet sportsbook.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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