Sweet Sixteen Has None of Top Seeds
The fans at Philips Arena will see a Sweet Sixteen matchup between the Kansas State Wildcats and the Kentucky Wildcats. when they take their seats on Thursday. Tip-off for this South Regional matchup will be around 9:37 pm EST. CBS will have the coverage after the Loyola (IL) and Nevada contest.
Oddsmakers opened the Wildcats as -5-point favorites versus the Wildcats, while the game’s total opened at 140.5. The line held at 5, but the total has dropped to 136.5.
Tonight’s game will be the first meeting between the schools since 2014. Kentucky defeated Kansas State in the first round of NCAA Tournament on the way to the championship game.
This is a tournament for first’s so far this season. For the first time ever, none of the top four seeds advanced in the South Regional. Virginia, Cincinnati, Tennessee and Arizona lost, and it wasn’t always pretty.
The four teams in Atlanta vying for a spot in the Final Four are No. 5 seed Kentucky vs. No. 9 Kansas State and No. 7 Nevada vs. No. 11 Loyola-Chicago.
Kentucky Playing Well Headed into Sweet Sixteen
Kentucky reached the Sweet Sixteen with a 78-73 victory over Davidson. Then they had a 95-75 rout of Buffalo. That is the team that punched Arizona in the “ding-ding” by 21 points.
The Wildcats of Kentucky is led in scoring by Kevin Knox at 15.6 points per game. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander comes in at 14.4 ppg. He is coming off a 27-point effort against Buffalo. PJ Washington averages 10.6 ppg and Hamidou Diallo averages 10.3. That includes 22 points on Saturday.
Kentucky averages 77.3 points as a team. They are shooting 47.4 percent from the floor. Defense is what rules the day. Kentucky ranks No. 3 in the nation is 3-point defense and No. 21 in overall field goal percentage defense.
KState Back in Sweet Sixteen After Long Dry Spell
Kansas State is back in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2010. Kansas State is the No. 8 seed. They had to defeat Creighton and tournament darling UMBC to advance. They were missing their best player to injury.
KState enters this week with a major question. When will leading scorer Dean Wade be available? He has missed the past three games because of a stress fracture in his foot. He told reporters Sunday that he was “98 percent and hoping to play against Kentucky.”
The 6-foot-10 forward was a first team All-Big 12 performer. He had averages of 16.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
Guard Barry Brown is 2nd on the team at 16.1 points. Forward Xavier Sneed is at 10.7. Sneed had eight points, seven rebounds, four steals and two assists in Kansas State’s win over UMBC.
Kansas State averages 71.6 points per game. They are shooting 47 percent overall and 34.3% from 3-point range.
Kentucky and Kansas State had four common opponents this season. Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Georgia and Kansas. Kentucky was 5-1 in those games while Kansas State was 2-5.
| Name |
Assists |
Turnovers |
Ratio |
| KANST |
13.97 |
11.66 |
1.2 |
| KENTY |
13.39 |
12.92 |
1.04 |
| Name |
Offense |
Defense |
Total |
| KANST |
8.03 |
22.83 |
30.86 |
| KENTY |
11.94 |
26.67 |
38.61 |
| Name |
Offense |
Defense |
Differential |
| KANST |
47.03 |
42.25 |
4.78 |
| KENTY |
47.37 |
40.49 |
6.88 |
| Name |
Record |
Home |
Away |
ATS |
ATS Home |
ATS Away |
Offense |
Defense |
Diff |
| Overall |
24-11 |
17-5 |
7-6 |
15-17 |
8-11 |
7-6 |
71.63 |
66.91 |
4.72 |
| Last 10 |
7-3 |
5-0 |
2-3 |
6-4 |
4-1 |
2-3 |
68.30 |
65.40 |
2.90 |
| vs Conf |
11-9 |
7-3 |
4-6 |
12-8 |
7-3 |
5-5 |
70.55 |
72.10 |
-1.55 |
| Name |
Record |
Home |
Away |
ATS |
ATS Home |
ATS Away |
Offense |
Defense |
Diff |
| Overall |
26-10 |
21-3 |
5-7 |
19-17 |
13-11 |
6-6 |
77.28 |
70.50 |
6.78 |
| Last 10 |
9-1 |
7-0 |
2-1 |
9-1 |
7-0 |
2-1 |
81.60 |
69.90 |
11.70 |
| vs Conf |
13-8 |
9-2 |
4-6 |
10-11 |
6-5 |
4-6 |
73.71 |
70.38 |
3.33 |
| Title |
Stat |
Rank |
Stat |
Rank |
| Away Team Overall Scoring vs Home Team Overall Defense |
71.63 |
191 |
70.50 |
101 |
| Home Team Overall Scoring vs Away Team Overall Defense |
77.28 |
64 |
66.91 |
39 |
| Team |
record |
ATS |
O/U |
AVG |
AVG ½ |
FG% |
REB |
3PT |
steals |
| Kansas State |
0-2 |
0-1-1 |
1-1 |
60.50 |
23.00 |
36.13 |
26.50 |
12/42 |
8.50 |
| Kentucky |
2-0 |
1-0-1 |
1-1 |
65.00 |
33.00 |
50.00 |
36.00 |
9/23 |
6.50 |
| Date |
Away |
away score |
Home |
home score |
line |
ATS |
Total |
O/U |
FG% Edge |
Reb Edge |
3PT Edge |
Away Half Score |
Home Half Score |
Away FG% |
Home FG% |
Away Rebounds |
Home Rebounds |
Away Three Pointers |
Home Three Pointers |
Away Steals |
Home Steals |
| Mar 21, 2014 |
KANST |
49 |
KENTY |
56 |
-6 |
KENTY |
131.5 |
U |
KENTY |
KENTY |
KANST |
23 |
29 |
35.8 |
38 |
28 |
40 |
5/21 |
4/15 |
7 |
4 |
| Nov 28, 2008 |
KANST |
72 |
KENTY |
74 |
-2 |
Push |
139 |
O |
KENTY |
KENTY |
KANST |
23 |
37 |
36.4 |
68.8 |
25 |
32 |
7/21 |
5/8 |
10 |
9 |
| Kansas State is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games |
| The total has gone UNDER in 13 of Kansas State’s last 19 games |
| Kentucky is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games |
| Kentucky is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games |
| The total has gone OVER in 9 of Kentucky’s last 10 games |
| Date |
Opponent |
score |
Result |
line |
Total |
ATS Result |
field goal percentage |
free throw percentage |
three pointers |
Location |
| Mar 18, 2018 |
UMBC |
50-43 |
W |
-9.5 |
136.5 |
L/U |
40.91 |
72.22 |
1 |
H |
| Mar 16, 2018 |
CREIG |
69-59 |
W |
2 |
143.5 |
W/U |
46.00 |
56.00 |
9 |
A |
| Mar 9, 2018 |
KANSA |
67-83 |
L |
7.5 |
138.5 |
L/O |
46.67 |
69.23 |
2 |
A |
| Mar 8, 2018 |
TCU |
66-64 |
W |
3 |
143 |
W/U |
46.43 |
64.71 |
3 |
H |
| Mar 3, 2018 |
BAYLR |
77-67 |
W |
-2.5 |
135.5 |
W/O |
52.00 |
79.17 |
6 |
H |
| Date |
Opponent |
score |
Result |
line |
Total |
ATS Result |
field goal percentage |
free throw percentage |
three pointers |
Location |
| Mar 17, 2018 |
BUFF |
95-75 |
W |
-5.5 |
154 |
W/O |
56.25 |
69.57 |
7 |
H |
| Mar 15, 2018 |
DAVID |
78-73 |
W |
-4.5 |
141 |
W/O |
50.98 |
81.25 |
0 |
H |
| Mar 11, 2018 |
TENN |
77-72 |
W |
2 |
137 |
W/O |
50.00 |
83.33 |
7 |
A |
| Mar 10, 2018 |
ALA |
86-63 |
W |
-4.5 |
139.5 |
W/O |
64.29 |
71.43 |
12 |
H |
| Mar 9, 2018 |
GA |
62-49 |
W |
-4.5 |
134.5 |
W/U |
42.62 |
50.00 |
5 |
H |
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