I love tonight's Kentucky vs. West Virginia Game to go under the 133. We just saw on Thursday night how these 2 teams can both play defense and hold their opponents down.
Kentucky is coming in off a game where they held Cornell to 45 when Cornell had scored 87 and 78 off Temple and Wisconsin. West Virginia crushed a Washington Huskies offense which had been averaging almost 80 points per game, holding them to 56 over 20 points below their seasons average.
I expect that this game will be more of the same as these two teams both play a slow tempo and this will be a half court game. Both teams want to work the shot clock down and get good shots. The Mountaineers will get back and not allow Kentucky to run up and down. In fact, in the first 2 tourney games the Mountaineers only allowed two transition baskets, which led the entire NCAA tourney field.
The Mountaineers ability to get back quickly and get their defense set up takes away one of Kentucky's most potent offensive weapons as the Wildcats like to pass it ahead of the field quickly and get easy transition buckets. The Wildcats were able to do that often in the first half against Cornell building a big lead and taking them out of the game.
The Mountaineers know they cant allow Kentucky to turn this into a fast pace run up and down the court kind of game or it will become a blow out. This is a well coached West Va team and it will be prepared to handle Kentucky's potentially explosive offense.
The Mountaineers have held their last 6 opponents in the 50's. That is a stretch that included Notre Dame, Georgetown, Missouri, and Washington so I dont have any problem believing that they can hold the Wildcats to probably even less than the 62 points Cornell held them to.
I see this as a 62-59 type game and I really think that if it goes over the total Kentucky is going to be in trouble because I just dont see the Wildcats getting 68 on this Mountaineer defense.
For the Wildcats part, they have also showed that they can put up some pretty stellar defense as well. Kentucky gives up 64 points per game but that number is way overstated due to the fact that the Wildcats have so many fast 10 second or less possessions, which in turn gives their opponents more possessions. That won’t be the case in this game.
The Wildcats have also had their points against average increased as teams score late points when the game is in effect already decided. I also don’t see that happening in this game as the Mountaineers are likely to stay close throughout. So really this is a much better Wildcat defense that what their stats suggest.
I have been really cold on these totals lately, hopefully can get on track with this one.
Tonight we have two really good defensive teams and I think it will be a slow temp game with minimal shots being taken. I love the under 133 in this one.
Good Luck on all plays.
Kentucky is coming in off a game where they held Cornell to 45 when Cornell had scored 87 and 78 off Temple and Wisconsin. West Virginia crushed a Washington Huskies offense which had been averaging almost 80 points per game, holding them to 56 over 20 points below their seasons average.
I expect that this game will be more of the same as these two teams both play a slow tempo and this will be a half court game. Both teams want to work the shot clock down and get good shots. The Mountaineers will get back and not allow Kentucky to run up and down. In fact, in the first 2 tourney games the Mountaineers only allowed two transition baskets, which led the entire NCAA tourney field.
The Mountaineers ability to get back quickly and get their defense set up takes away one of Kentucky's most potent offensive weapons as the Wildcats like to pass it ahead of the field quickly and get easy transition buckets. The Wildcats were able to do that often in the first half against Cornell building a big lead and taking them out of the game.
The Mountaineers know they cant allow Kentucky to turn this into a fast pace run up and down the court kind of game or it will become a blow out. This is a well coached West Va team and it will be prepared to handle Kentucky's potentially explosive offense.
The Mountaineers have held their last 6 opponents in the 50's. That is a stretch that included Notre Dame, Georgetown, Missouri, and Washington so I dont have any problem believing that they can hold the Wildcats to probably even less than the 62 points Cornell held them to.
I see this as a 62-59 type game and I really think that if it goes over the total Kentucky is going to be in trouble because I just dont see the Wildcats getting 68 on this Mountaineer defense.
For the Wildcats part, they have also showed that they can put up some pretty stellar defense as well. Kentucky gives up 64 points per game but that number is way overstated due to the fact that the Wildcats have so many fast 10 second or less possessions, which in turn gives their opponents more possessions. That won’t be the case in this game.
The Wildcats have also had their points against average increased as teams score late points when the game is in effect already decided. I also don’t see that happening in this game as the Mountaineers are likely to stay close throughout. So really this is a much better Wildcat defense that what their stats suggest.
I have been really cold on these totals lately, hopefully can get on track with this one.
Tonight we have two really good defensive teams and I think it will be a slow temp game with minimal shots being taken. I love the under 133 in this one.
Good Luck on all plays.