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Kentucky vs Saint Peter’s Prediction, Game Preview: NCAA Tournament First Round
Kentucky vs Saint Peter’s: NCAA Tournament First Round prediction and college basketball game preview.
Kentucky vs Saint Peter’s Game Preview, NCAA Tournament First Round How To Watch
Date: Thursday, March 17
Game Time: 7:10 pm
Venue: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
How To Watch: CBS
Records: Kentucky (2 seed, 26-7)
Saint Peter’s (15 seed, 19-11)
Region: East
– NCAA Tournament Schedule, Predictions, Game Previews
Why Saint Peter's Will Win
The Peacocks are strutting with a good seven-game winning streak with a MAAC Tournament championship to get here.
They don’t score, they don’t make field goals, and they’re relatively sloppy with the ball and turn it over way too often. But they play a nasty brand of D.
No, the schedule hasn’t been all that great – they were blown out in the two early season games against St. John’s and Providence – but they’re not allowing teams to hit threes. No one has made more than six since February, and there’s always pressure on the outside.
They’re fifth in the nation in field goal defense – teams make just 38% of their shots on this group – and they’re able to force takeaways and plenty of steals.
Kentucky isn’t going to do much of anything from three in this, but …
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Why Kentucky Will Win
It won’t have to.
The Wildcats will get bogged down at times by this Saint Peter’s D, but they’ll dominate on the inside and won’t have to worry at all defensively about anything coming from the outside.
Yeah, the Peacocks led the MAAC in rebounding margin, but welcome to Oscar Tshiebwe and the rest of a Kentucky team that leads the nation with ten more boards a game than the opponents.
And yeah, Saint Peter’s might be great at guarding the three, but Kentucky won’t go dead cold like it did in losses to Tennessee and Arkansas. And if it does, it’ll keep pumping the ball inside.
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Kentucky vs Saint Peter's: What’s Going To Happen
All it’ll take is one big burst of Kentucky points to end this.
Saint Peter’s has no ability whatsoever to get back in the game on transition points or with a flurry of threes. This has to stay in the low 60s for the Peacocks to have any hope, and Kentucky won’t oblige.
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Kentucky vs Saint Peter's: NCAA Tournament First Round Prediction, Lines
Kentucky 76, Saint Peter’s 57
Line: Kentucky -18, o/u: 132
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2
Kentucky vs Saint Peter’s Must See Rating: 2
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– NCAA Tournament Schedule, Predictions, Game Previews
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– 2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams
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