Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt: How to watch, odds, picks, final score predictions from ESPN, KenPom

With the SEC season heating up, Music City will host a big-time conference matchup tonight when Kentucky comes to Nashville to play Vanderbilt. While the Wildcats have come back to life over the last two weeks, the Commodores have proven to be no pushover in league play so far.

Based on the odds, picks, and predictions for tonight, we should expect a competitive contest inside Memorial Gymnasium tonight.

How to watch Missouri vs. LSU

Tip-off: 9 p.m. EST

Location: Memorial Gymnasium (Nashville, Tennessee)

Channel: SEC Network

Vegas odds

Kentucky is a six-point favorite over Vanderbilt on Tuesday according to VegasInsider. The over-under is set at 145 points.

ESPN BPI prediction

Predicted winner: Kentucky

Predicted point differential: 4

Win probability (for Kentucky): 65.4%

Matchup quality: 82.3

ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) is a tool that measures team strength and uses that to predict outcomes of future performances. ESPN’s BPI has Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt ranked as the third highest-rated game on Tuesday’s slate in terms of matchup quality.

KenPom prediction

Predicted final score: Kentucky 73, Vanderbilt 71

Win probability (for Kentucky): 56%

KenPom is another tool that provides advanced analysis across college basketball. Like ESPN, KenPom projects that the Wildcats comes away with a victory over Vandy.

More on Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt

At this point two weeks ago, Kentucky was essentially dead in the water. They lost to South Carolina inside Rupp Arena on January 10th as several, including those in the Bluegrass, had finally hopped off the train. However, they’ve bounced back in surprising fashion with a three-game win streak over Tennessee, Georgia, and Texas A&M. Big parts of that stretch have been lineup changes by John Calipari as well as a return to form from Oscar Tshiebwe. Now, they’ll look to extend that winning streak to four against the ‘Dores while also trying not looking ahead to their matchup with Kansas in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge this weekend.

As for Vanderbilt, they’re 10-9 overall and 3-3 in conference play. However, that SEC mark is slightly skewed as they’ve played four ranked teams already in the league with two of them coming on the road. While they’ve lost in three of those games, the Commodores have kept it close by only losing by an average of eight in those games while also winning one of them against Arkansas. Jerry Stackhouse’s team is also coming off a quality 85-82 win over Georgia in Athens on Saturday. That’s why, as a scrappy team, Vandy has a chance to give Kentucky some trouble tonight.