Missouri vs. #6 Kentucky College Basketball Picks

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No. 6 Kentucky is starting to round into form and now looks like the team to beat in the SEC – if not the country — as the Wildcats host a dangerous Missouri squad on Tuesday night in conference action. UK is a double-digit favorite on the NCAAB odds. 2024 NCAA Basketball Betting & Expert Analysis Missouri vs. #6 Kentucky | MyBookie Sportsbook Week 10 NCAAB

How to Bet Missouri at Kentucky NCAA Basketball Odds & TV Info

When: Tuesday, 7 PM ET
Where: Rupp Arena
TV: ESPN
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: Tunein.com
Opening NCAAB Lines: Kentucky -5.5 (total 82.5)

Series History

Kentucky leads 14-3 but the Tigers have won two of the last three games. Last year, Mizzou cruised to an 89-75 victory over the No. 19 Wildcats to open SEC play. The 89 points scored by Mizzou were the most allowed by a John Calipari-coached Kentucky team and the most points allowed by Calipari since his final game at Memphis – a 102-91 defeat to Missouri. Kentucky has controlled the series in Lexington – winning all eight home contests, including all six since the Tigers joined the SEC.

Why Bet on Missouri Tigers?

The Tigers started this season at 7-2 but lost four the fourth time in five games Saturday, 75-68 at home to Georgia in the SEC opener. A late 6-0 run gave the Bulldogs some breathing room as they outscored the Tigers 12-5 to close out the game. Georgia’s early hot-shooting allowed the visitors to make 48.0 percent of its field goals despite the Tigers holding them to 36.0 percent in the second frame. The Bulldogs were also able to take advantage of the charity stripe, outscoring Mizzou, 15-6, from the line. Mizzou, meanwhile, made 44.4 percent of its shots.

Missouri Last 5

vs Georgia – L75-68

vs C Arkansas – W92-59

vs Illinois – L97-73

vs Seton Hall – L93-87

@ Kansas – L73-64

Sean East II led the Tigers with 18 points and eight assists in the game, as well as chipping in six rebounds and a pair of steals. East II’s 18-point performance gives him 1,000 career points in collegiate basketball. Tamar Bates scored in double figures for the fourth-straight game with 15 points. Aidan Shaw added a career-best 14 points to go with six boards, while Noah Carter added 13 points and three assists.

East leads the Tigers with 17.1 points per game – ranking fifth in the SEC and 118th nationally. The guard has increased his scoring by 9.8 points per game – easily the highest mark in the SEC. East leads Mizzou with 12 double-digit scoring games and six contests with 20-plus points. In addition, East has scored 15-plus points in nine-straight games – the longest run by a Tiger since Jordan Barnett in 2017-18 (10-game run). East, who averaged 8.4 points in his first three seasons, owns career-best marks in shooting percentage (55.4) and 3-point percentage (53.8).

Bates has scored in double digits in each of the last four games – he had never gone more than two-straight with at least 10 points. Overall, Bates is averaging 18.0 points over the four-game stretch – shooting 62.5 percent from the field, 72.7 percent from 3-point range and 93.3 percent from the free-throw line. Bates, who averaged 7.1 points the first 10 games of the season, has raised his scoring average to 10.2 points this season.

Of all players in the country with at least two 3-point attempts per game, East is fifth at 53.8 percent and Bates is seventh at 53.1 percent. The Tigers are the only team with two players in the top 20.

Having never scored in double figures in his first 44 career games, Shaw has done so in each of the last two contests. The forward has tallied 24 points the last two games. Overall, Shaw ranks sixth nationally by making 75.7 percent of his 2-point attempts this season, averaging 4.1 points per game.

MU ranks last in the SEC and 316th in the NCAA with 15.7 free-throw attempts per game (UK is 13th in the SEC at 19.1). Six times this year, Mizzou has allowed 10 more shots from the charity stripe than it took, including three times in the last five games (losing all three contests).

“The stat sheet says, at home, we shot seven free throws,” Coach Dennis Gates said after Georgia shot 21 free throws to Missouri’s seven. “That’s what it says. You’re not winning basketball games in the SEC if you’re shooting seven free throws at home. We had 36 points in the paint to (Georgia’s) 22. We’ve got to come away with foul shots in addition to that, and I think that allows you to take the pressure off jump shots; that allows you to take the pressure off certain situations.”

Week 10 NCAAB Game Odds	SPREAD	MONEYLINE	TOTAL
Kentucky	-5.5	-400	U 82.5
Missouri	+5.5	+260	O 82.5

Why Bet on Kentucky Wildcats?

Kentucky (11-2) won its fifth game in a row Saturday, 87-85 at Florida to open SEC play. Florida led for nearly 30 of the first 38 minutes before Kentucky made the key plays, most notably a go-ahead 3-pointer by a 7-footer who doesn’t shoot 3s, with just over a minute to go.

Kentucky Last 5

@ Florida – W87-85

vs Illinois St. – W96-70

@ Louisville – W95-76

vs North Carolina – W87-83

vs Penn – W81-66

Kentucky freshman forward Aaron Bradshaw, with just three 3-point attempts on the season, buried a go-ahead trey with 1:23 to play and classmate Reed Sheppard hit six consecutive free throws in the final 19.3 seconds, as the Wildcats completed a second-half comeback. The loss snapped the Gators’ six-game winning streak, the program’s longest in seven seasons. UF only turned the ball over 11 times, but UK cashed them in for 15 points. The Gators shot 42.6 percent for the game, but missed 10 of 11 attempts from the 3-point arc in the second half and killed themselves by going 18-for-29 from the free-throw line (62.1 percent).

UK won despite making only 5 of 20 on 3-pointers, tying the season low for threes made. Kentucky entered the game 12th in the nation with 10.6 long balls made per game and third nationally in percentage at 41.6%. Over the last seven minutes of the game, UK made 13 of 15 attempts (86.7%) from the foul line. After committing seven turnovers in the first half, UK had only two miscues in the second half. UK won points off turnovers, 15-6.

The Wildcats rallied from an 11-point first-half deficit to win. It’s the second time this season they have overcome an 11-point deficit (Texas A&M-Commerce). It marked the largest halftime deficit (8) overcome on the road since March 7, 2020 (10) at Florida.

Antonio Reeves led the Wildcats with 19 points and a plus/minus of +17. He extended his streak of 24 consecutive games with a 3-pointer, longest since Jamal Murray’s school-record 36-game streak in the 2015-16 season. Tre Mitchell notched 12 points and 10 rebounds, his second double-double at UK and 13th of his career. It was his third straight game with double-digit rebounds and he has had at least four boards in every game this season.

D.J. Wagner and Sheppard each tallied 14 points. It was Wagner’s seventh double-figure scoring game of the season and Sheppard’s 10th. Sheppard did not have any steals, ending his streak of 12 straight games making at least two steals. Bradshaw scored 10 points, all coming in the final 9:05 of the game, while adding seven rebounds, two steals and a block.

The Wildcats wrapped up a stretch in which they played just five games over a 28-day span beginning on Dec. 2 and ending Saturday. During that stretch, UK played just one time at home — a 96-70 victory over Illinois State on Dec. 29.

Kentucky ranks among the top 10 nationally in points per game, assist-to-turnover ratio, fastbreak points and 3-point percentage. UK has never been too reliant on the 3 under John Calipari, but this 2023-24 team is bucking the trend as the Cats average 33.6% of their points from distance and a whopping 37.4% of its field-goal attempts are from 3-point range. The percentage of attempts is the highest in the Calipari era, while the percentage of makes is also the highest.