Kentucky opens as slight favorite at South Carolina

Our friends at FanDuel have spoken, and they believe in the Cats down in Columbia. Kentucky has opened as a slight favorite over South Carolina inside Colonial Life Arena.

The official odds? UK by 4.5 with the over/under set at 156.5 points and the moneyline sitting at -194 for the road team.

Check it out:

KenPom gives Kentucky a 61% chance to win in Columbia with a projected score of 80-77 while Bart Torvik also likes the Cats at 56% with a score of 79-77.

As for ESPN’s Matchup Predictor, that gives UK a 63.5% shot to pull off the true road victory. Still, though, the outlet’s BPI projects a 23-8 final record for John Calipari’s squad with a 12.2-5.8 finish in conference play — essentially 12-6 for five more losses in the league. The most interesting part? The Cats have just a 7.9% shot to win the SEC, behind the likes of Auburn (54.2%), Tennessee (41.6%) and Alabama (26.7%) for a fourth-place finish.

It’s up 0.3% from last week, so hey, Kentucky must be doing something right!

Just keep winning, the next opportunity coming Tuesday evening in Columbia. Kentucky at South Carolina, 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network.

How To Watch

No. 7 Kentucky (14-3) at South Carolina (15-3)
7 p.m. ET | Tuesday, Jan. 22 | Colonial Life Arena

• TV: SEC Network (Tom Hart, Dane Bradshaw, Alyssa Lang)
• Streaming: WatchESPN
• Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
• Online Radio: iHeart
• Satellite Radio: Sirius 84 and on the SiriusXM App
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast