ESPN Analytics projects winner of Kentucky/LSU SEC Tournament first-round matchup
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
The SEC Tournament kicks off at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Wednesday. The curtain raiser features a college basketball blue blood looking to avoid a damaging upset loss to one of the worst teams in the conference.
Kentucky, the No. 9 seed, and LSU, seeded 16th, square off at 12:30 p.m. ET in Music City.
The Wildcats, losers of their last two, already project to be an at-large team in the NCAA Tournament. Joe Lunardi’s updated bracketology on Monday had them as a 7 seed in the Midwest region. (That would be their lowest seeding since they were an 8 seed in 2014. That group ended up winning it all. This group probably won’t.) A loss to the Tigers, who Kentucky trailed by 16 on Jan. 14 before a 75-74 comeback win, will give the selection committee something to think about.
The Tigers, who more than likely will be looking for a new coach in the offseason, went 12-1 in non-conference play, including a victory against an SMU team that ended up winning 20 games. In SEC play, though, they went 3-15, dropping Matt McMahon to 17-55 against conference opponents. He’s 43-14 against everyone else.
Unsurprisingly, ESPN Analytics has Kentucky winning this one. The Wildcats have been given a 75.1% chance of victory against the Tigers. As you can see below, Kalshi is taking action on the matchup:
The winner moves on to face eighth-seeded Mizzou. LSU was actually a 78-70 winner over Mizzou on Jan. 17 during the regular season. Meanwhile, Kentucky dropped a 73-68 decision to Dennis Gates’ team at Rupp Arena on Jan. 7.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
