Kentucky opens up as 15.5-point favorite over Saint Peter's

Early money is leaning heavily towards the Wildcats.

Two-seeded Kentucky has opened up as a 15.5-point favorite to take down the 15-seeded Saint Peter’s Peacocks in the East Region’s opening round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament with the over/under set at 133, according to Bet Rivers.

The two sides will meet on Thursday, March 17 up in Indianapolis, IN with a shot at advancing to the Round of 32 on the line. A tipoff time has yet to be announced.

Kentucky opens as a 15.5-point favorite over Saint Peter's.

— Nick Roush (@RoushKSR) March 13, 2022

Saint Peter’s will take on Kentucky as winners of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Tournament after taking down Monmouth in the championship on Saturday. The Peacocks sit on an overall record of 19-11 (14-6 in the MAAC) with a current win streak of seven games. Saint Peter’s is led by committee, as 10 players different players average at least 10 minutes per outing. Daryl Banks III is the team’s leading scorer at 11.0 points per game.

According to KenPom, Saint Peter’s ranks as the 118th best team in the country and projects to lose by a final score of 74-59. Kentucky’s worse loss of the season came against Notre Dame back in December, but the Fighting Irish finished the regular-season No. 52 in KenPom’s rankings and made it in the tournament field.

The Big Blue Nation should feel good about this opening draw.