The best sport betting sites favor the Kentucky Wildcats by 2.5 points over the Houston Cougars in the Sweet 16. Kentucky blew the Abilene Christian Wildcats to Kingdom Come 79-44 as 20.5-point favorites in the first round. So much for ACU slaying “John Calipari and his merry band of NBA bums from Kentucky” and saving the NCAA tournament. I guess the NCAA tournament didn’t want to be saved. Moving on. UK then put the Wofford Terriers to sleep 62-46 as 5.5-point chalk in the second round. Houston didn’t have a problem beating the Georgia State Panthers 84-55 in the first round. In the second, UH went through the Ohio State Buckeyes 74-59. Thus covering the 6.5-point set by the best online sportsbooks.
The Houston-Kentucky clash could feature the return of Wildcats forward PJ Washington. He missed the first two NCAA tourney games with a sprained foot. Washington tweeted a video on Wednesday teasing his return. But the tweet was no spoiler for the Cougars. “We just assume [Washington] is [going to play],” UH head coach Kelvin Sampson said. “We prepare like he is going to play. You don’t go one way and all sudden you hear on Thursday he’s going to play and now we have to prepare for him. Everything we do is that he’s in the lineup. I think he will play.” PJ leads UK with 14.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
Houston Cougars vs. Kentucky Wildcats
- Date: Friday March 29, 2019
- Time: 9:59 PM (EDT)
- Venue: Sprint Center Kansas City, Missouri
- Odds from GTBets.eu:
| Team | SP/RL | TOTAL | ML | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston U | +3 (-110) | 134½ (-110) | +140 |  |
| Kentucky | -3 (-110) | 134½(-110) | -160 | |
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Betting Houston
Guard Corey Davis is scoring 17.1 points per game and grabbing 3.4 rebounds per game. Davis tallied at least 20 points in the two previous NCAA tournament games. He has also hit at least four treys in 12 games this season. Per the best sport betting sites, the Cougars are 8-1 ATS in their last nine games as underdogs. 8-2 ATS in their last 10 non-conference games. 9-3 ATS in their last 12 games on neutral courts. 4-9 ATS in their last 13 playing SEC schools. And 35-16-2 ATS in their last 53 overall.
Betting Kentucky
Even without Washington, the Wildcats can still rely on Reid Travis. He is averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds per game in this NCAA tourney. Additionally, he has shot 50% or higher from the field in his last four straight games. UK is 6-0 ATS in their last six non-conference games. 5-1-2 ATS in their last eight NCAA tournament games. 34-16-4 ATS in their last 54 neutral court games. And 1-4 ATS in their last five games following a cover.
Calipari is no bum be he’s also not looking forward to the Cougars. “Houston is really good. We need every hand on deck. You don’t have to play great but you gotta ring the bell,” Calipari said. “I’m not looking forward to playing this team. It’s going to be a really hard game. You know what you’re in for. Terrific players, guards that can score, big guys that are active. He’s playing 9-10 guys and what they’ve done the last two years it’s nothing short of an amazing story.”
Pick: Washington should give Kentucky an edge. Should he indeed return, that is. I would predicate taking the Wildcats and the points on that. Still, this ought to be a close one, as the point spread indicates. Perhaps you might prefer to take the under. I know it sounds like a counterintuitive proposition. After all, the best sport betting sites appear to always expect UK to set the scoreboard on fire. However, it’s worth considering that the under is 12-3 in Kentucky’s last 15 games. Those games have averaged a combined total of 133.6 points per contest.
