Vanderbilt vs. Kentucky: Odds, final score predictions from ESPN, KenPom

Vanderbilt pulled off a major upset Thursday night, but it set up a tough matchup with Kentucky on Friday night. The Vegas odds and predictions from the metrics are in — and they heavily favor the Wildcats.

Here’s everything you need to know about the big matchup ahead of tip-off.

How to watch Vanderbilt vs. Kentucky

Time: 8 p.m. ET

Location: Amalie Arena

Network: SEC Network

Vegas odds

According to VegasInsider, the Wildcats are 10.5-point favorites over the Commodores in the SEC quarterfinals. The over/under for the game is 142.5.

ESPN BPI prediction

ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) measures team strength and predicts future performances across the sport. The BPI prediction from ESPN has Kentucky with an 87.8% chance of advancing to the SEC Tournament semifinals.

Projected winner: Kentucky

Predicted point differential: 12.8

Matchup Quality: 79.1

KenPom prediction

KenPom is another tool that predicts and projects college basketball results. Like ESPN, KenPom projects Kentucky to advance to the semifinals fairly easily.

Predicted winner: Kentucky

Predicted final score: Kentucky 77, Vanderbilt 66

Win probability (for Kentucky): 83%

Vanderbilt upsets Alabama in SEC Tournament, advances to quarterfinals

No. 11 seed Vanderbilt erased a 10-point halftime deficit, completely owning No. 6 seeded Alabama during the final 20-minute stretch to take home an 82-76 upset victory Thursday night. The Commodores will move on to the quarterfinals to take on No. 3 seed Kentucky Friday night.

“Coach [Jerry] Stackhouse came into the locker room and said ‘this is it, you know. Either we go home or play tomorrow, so it was fuel to the fire,” Scotty Pippen Jr. said during his postgame interview.

It was a 14-2 run that closed the distance midway through the second half for the Commodores thanks to a litany of turnovers. A breakaway dunk from Pippen with under half a minute left in regulation gave Vandy their largest lead of the night at seven, sealing the Crimson Tide’s fate and sending them home from Tampa earlier than expected.

Pippen finished the game with 26 points despite a 5-19 shooting night, but logged 7 assists to make up for his low-percentage shooting night, and 18 turnovers from the Crimson Tide aided Vanderbilt in their victory. Alabama will now wait to hear their fate come Selection Sunday, while the Commodores look to make a Cinderella run into the semifinals with a win Friday night.

With a third matchup against Kentucky this season Friday night, Pippen had some early thoughts on his game plan against the ‘Cats. “Just keep doing what we’re doing and get the win,” he said.

The last time these two squads matched up was in Lexington where the Wildcats won 77-70. The Commodores out-rebounded Kentucky 37-30 despite the loss, which is impressive given Kentucky is one of the top rebounding teams in the NCAA this season.