The Kentucky Wildcats will take on the Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday afternoon in Lexington. Game time is set for 2:00 PM ET on ESPN. The Cats are 1.5-point favorites.
Mark Pope’s squad is now 18-10 after snapping a three-game losing streak with a win over the South Carolina Gamecocks last time out. Kentucky is 9-6 in conference play, which includes a 25-point drubbing by the Commodores in Nashville last month.
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The Cats are obviously much different at home than they are on the road, but being the favorites after getting outright embarrassed a few weeks ago was not expected. It’s not like Kentucky’s been lights out at home with losses to much lesser teams than Vandy, like the Georgia Bulldogs and Missouri Tigers.
Speaking of the Dores, they sit at 22-6 on the season, but they hold the same record as the Cats in conference play. Mark Byington’s team had just three losses when they walloped Kentucky a month ago, but since that time, they’re just 3-3, with one of those losses coming at home to the lowly Oklahoma Sooners. It’s possible that Vandy could be experiencing a bit of regression at an opportune time for the Cats.
We’ll see what happens. Pope and Co. have not been good against ranked teams in his tenure, but we’ve also been riding this roller coaster for two seasons now, and nothing would surprise me. Fingers crossed.
Pregame reading
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Let’s Go CATS!
