Kentucky vs. Ohio State: 2019-20 college basketball game preview, TV schedule

A pair of top-10 teams will descend upon Sin City this Saturday, as Kentucky and Ohio State prepare to do battle in Las Vegas.

TV schedule: Saturday, December 21, 5:15 pm ET. CBS.
Arena: T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.

Highly rated Kentucky and Ohio State are invading Las Vegas on Saturday as part of the 2019 CBS Sports Classic. This event first features UCLA against North Carolina, and then the No. 5 Buckeyes (10-1) will take on the No. 6 Wildcats (8-2), with both contests to occur at the T-Mobile Arena.

In its most-recent affair on Dec. 18, also held in Las Vegas, Kentucky connected on a dreadful 11.8 percent from beyond the arc, and the Wildcats got upset by Utah, 69-66. That defeat represented Kentucky’s second setback of the 2019-20 campaign, as the Wildcats also lost in mid-November, 67-64, to Evansville at home in a stunning result.

Southeastern Conference member Kentucky, currently No. 74 in the NCAA NET system, doesn’t have a particularly shiny resume at this juncture. The Wildcats knocked off then-No. 1 Michigan State in the stanza opener and Kentucky has also bested Georgia Tech, but that’s about it.

Ohio State, out of the Big Ten Conference and presently No. 3 in the NET rankings, has, by and large, looked awfully impressive so far in 2019-20. The Buckeyes have conquered Cincinnati, then-No. 10 Villanova, then-No. 7 North Carolina and now-No. 23 Penn State – all in resounding fashion. The sole blemish on Ohio State’s docket to date is on the road versus Minnesota on Dec. 15.

Statistically speaking, the Buckeyes and the Wildcats are relatively similar, although by my estimation Ohio State’s numbers have come against a more difficult calendar than Kentucky’s. The Buckeyes are generating 79.9 points every 40 minutes and allowing 56.7 points, as compared to 75.4 points and 60.2 points, respectively, for the Wildcats.

Ohio State shoots 49.0 percent from the field, 72.4 percent from the charity stripe, and an excellent 41.6 percent from deep. Kentucky, meanwhile, hits on 46.8 percent from the field as a whole, a stellar 79.5 percent from the free-throw line, and a paltry 27.5 percent from long range. Rebounding, assists, blocks, steals and turnovers committed per game are virtually identical among these two crews.

ESPN’s Basketball Power Index pegs the Buckeyes as a convincing favorite, with a 68.8 percent chance to prevail over the Wildcats. That doesn’t surprise me, as Ohio State is simply playing better than Kentucky at this moment. All-time, the Wildcats own an 11-9 record against the Buckeyes, but I believe that Ohio State is going to emerge victorious versus Kentucky in this delightful duel.

Prediction: Ohio State 74 – Kentucky 71