Kentucky opens as firm favorite vs. North Carolina

Tipoff: 9:30 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN (Dick Vitale, Jay Williams and Dave O’Brien)
Local Radio: UK Sports Network (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
AM: 840 WHAS, 630 WLAP
FM: 98.1 WBUL
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Sirius XM: 106 or 191

Worried about Kentucky‘s ability to beat a name-brand opponent this season after watching the Louisville and Michigan State losses? Oddsmakers certainly aren’t ahead of the Wildcats’ late-night matchup vs. No. 16 North Carolina on Tuesday.

Despite being ranked behind the Tar Heels in the latest AP Poll at No. 18 overall, Mark Pope’s group is still a firm favorite to earn its first big-time victory of the year, our friends at BetMGM giving the Cats an 8.5-point edge inside Rupp Arena.

The point total has been set at 159.5 with Kentucky earning a projected score of 84.5 compared to 75.5 for North Carolina. As of early Monday afternoon, 66 percent of moneyline bets are on the Cats (-350) with 85 percent of spread bets on the Tar Heels (-110).

What do the analytics say about the matchup? They also favor the home team, KenPom giving Kentucky an 80 percent chance to pull off the win with a projected score of 84-75. Bart Torvik also likes the Cats with a 70 percent shot to earn the victory and a projected score of 81-75.

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The Tar Heels, led by fifth-year coach Hubert Davis (107-46) are averaging 83.3 points per game on 47/32/72 shooting splits, led by former Wildcat target and freshman superstar Caleb Wilson (19.9 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.7 SPG and 1.3 BPG).

Can they slow him down? The oddsmakers think it’ll be enough to not only win, but win comfortably.