National Media Predictions for Kentucky vs. Michigan State

KSR has scoured the internet to see what people are saying about tonight’s matchup between Kentucky and Michigan State. Enjoy national media predictions for the Champions Classic before all of the action tips off at 7 pm EST on ESPN.

ESPN BPI

KenPom

The Wildcats are KenPom’s No. 1 ranked team, while Michigan State comes in at No. 27, one spot below their AP Poll ranking. Kentucky is second in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency and ranked third offensively. KenPom predicts a 74-66 victory, a UK cover, and gives the Wildcats a 77% chance to win.

In other computer predictions, the fine folks at Odds Shark are much more optimistic. Their computer predicts an 80.6-63.0 win for the Wildcats.

CBS Sports

Most believe the Spartans will cover after they showed plenty of fight in a one-point loss to Gonzaga, but nobody has the audacity to take them to win outright against the Wildcats.

Action Network

“The best case scenario for Kentucky is that both (Daimion Collins and Oscar Tshiebwe) join a team that has played two games without them, and in all honestly, I don’t think that helps the Wildcats much. It might even hurt them.

“They’re up against their first real competition of the season, and they’re playing with a lineup that not only hasn’t been able to practice together, but with Tshiebwe back, their roles change considerably from the first two games.

“I expect the defensive pressure of Michigan State to be another issue for Kentucky. The Wildcats have consistently struggled in the past in their first real test of a season after opening up with inferior opponents. Last year, after losing to Duke, they didn’t play a single team ranked better than 125th (per KenPom) before they went to Notre Dame and lost. That’s why I’m backing the Spartans to — at the very least — keep this game close.”

Pick: Michigan State +5

The Athletic

Seth Davis and Eamonn Brennan are picking college basketball games all season long, budgeting 100 “tokens” for each slate of games. Davis opening Champions Classic night with quite a bit of confidence in Tom Izzo’s team.

“The big question is whether Kentucky’s returning national player of the year, 6-foot-9 senior forward Oscar Tshiebwe, will be able to play — and if so, how effective he will be. Tshiebwe had a surgical procedure on his knee last month. Needless to say, he is hoping to play, but he and John Calipari sounded pretty confident that Tshiebwe would be ready for the season opener, and he has yet to step into a game. Tshiebwe practiced for the first time since his surgery on Monday, so it appears he will try to give it a go. However, this is a tough assignment for the first game coming off knee surgery. Michigan State is an experienced, physical team. The Spartans didn’t quite pull off the upset over Gonzaga on Friday at the Armed Forces Classic, but the Spartans led the game for 30 minutes, and they should get more quality production from 6-4 sophomore guard Jaden Akins, who had surgery in September to repair a stress reaction in his left foot. Akins averaged 16.5 minutes in the first two games, but a few more days to practice should have him ready to make an impact against Kentucky.”

Davis’ Pick: “30 tokens on Michigan State”

247 Sports

“Michigan State’s path to win: play physically, muddy this thing up and make Kentucky execute in the halfcourt. But the bet here is that Kentucky is just a little too athletic, and that players like Reeves and Fredrick provide just a little too much shot-making. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Michigan State hang around here, and in a close game, anything can happen. But Kentucky has looked dominant even without Collins and Tshiebwe so far, and with Collins returning, the Wildcats could have too many athletes for the Spartans to corral.”

Prediction: Kentucky 73, Michigan State 65

Backdoor Cuts

Bobby Reagan, remember him? He used to write words here at Kentucky Sports Radio dot com. Now he’s a contributor at Barstool Sports, raising cane in trivia and making college basketball picks. Today he debuted a new show, Backdoor Cuts. He breaks down all of the Champions Classic and provides a couple of picks.

Prediction: Kentucky and the Under

Covers

“Kentucky will likely pull out a win in which should be a tightly played contest right through the final minutes. However, the current spread has the Wildcats as a 6.5-point favorite. That’s far too many points to be giving a tested Michigan State team, especially when Kentucky hasn’t proven anything yet this season. I’m backing the Spartans with the points.”

Prediction: Michigan State +6.5