ESPN Analytics made its call on Tuesday night’s SEC basketball showdown in Nashville — it believes that despite Kentucky soaring into town on a 5-game conference winning streak and despite Mark Pope’s team displaying newfound confidence, that No. 18 Vanderbilt has the big-time advantage in the friendly confines of Memorial Gym.
The BPI, after crunching the numbers on the 9 p.m. ET tipoff on ESPN, is giving the Commodores a 67.4% chance to hold serve in a home arena that is brutally tough to win in for the visitor.
Vandy is anxious to get on a roll here now after snapping its 3-game SEC losing streak last Saturday with a blowout victory at Mississippi State. Before that 3-game skid, the Commodores were a perfect 16-0, so the losing streak was a humbling experience for Vandy, and it took out its frustrations on the Bulldogs in Starkville in an 88-56 victory.
That win got the Commodores back over .500 in the SEC at 4-3, and they’ll bring a 17-3 overall mark into Tuesday night’s showdown with the Wildcats.
Kentucky is a different team than it was only 3 weeks ago, when losses to Alabama and Mizzou had the Cats at 0-2 in the SEC and had Pope feeling the heat from a demanding fan base. What a difference those 3 weeks make, as 20 days later Kentucky comes into Memorial Gym with a 5-2 SEC mark and a 14-6 overall mark.
But despite that 5-game win streak and despite Vandy’s recent woes before last Saturday, ESPN’s BPI believes in the home team here by a good percentage.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
