Michigan vs. Kentucky Prediction and Odds for Sunday, December 4 (Value on Wolverines in London)
By Peter Dewey
The Kentucky Wildcats and Michigan Wolverines are in London, England today for the Basketball Hall of Fame London Showcase, in what should be an intriguing matchup between two elite programs.
The Wildcats and John Calipari suffered a couple of early losses, but the No. 19 Wildcats are still the No. 5 team in KenPom's rankings with the No. 4 adjusted defensive efficiency and No. 18 adjusted offensive efficiency in the country.
Juwan Howard’s Wolverines nearly upset Virginia in their last game, losing by just two points at home. It moved Michigan to 5-2 on the season, with the team going 0-2 in its games against top-50 KenPom teams.
The Wildcats have a balanced attack with five players averaging double figures, and have returning Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe down low to deal with Michigan star Hunter Dickinson (19.1 points, 9.1 rebounds per game).
Who has the edge across the pond?
Here are the latest odds for this matchup:
Michigan vs. Kentucky Odds, Spread and Total
Michigan vs. Kentucky Prediction and Pick
The Wolverines may not be ranked, but they still have the No. 25 adjusted offensive efficiency in the land and are No. 5 in the country in turnover percentage.
That should help them against Kentucky’s elite defense, which blocks a ton of shots. The Wolverines hung tight with Virginia’s elite defense, and Dickinson may have a size advantage on some of Kentucky’s bigs in this game.
The Wildcats have taken care of business against bad teams this season, but Michigan doesn’t fall in that category, which makes me think this spread is a little too wide for a neutral site game.
The Wolverines are going to need to slow down Kentucky from beyond the arc (37.4 percent) to stay in this game, but I think both of these teams would prefer to play through their star bigs in the post.
The edge may be with the Wildcats for their deeper roster, but I don’t think this is a blowout. Kentucky struggled mightily in the first half in its last game against Bellarmine, and the Wolverines have the offense to at least keep up with the Wildcats on Sunday.
Find Peter Dewey’s full betting record here.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.