Kentucky Wildcats vs Missouri Tigers Prediction, 3/8/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Kentucky Wildcats vs Missouri Tigers

Date: Saturday, March 8, 2025

Location: Mizzou Arena in South Bend, IN

TV: ESPN+

The Missouri Tigers (21-9) will try to beat the Kentucky Wildcats (20-10) at Mizzou Arena on Saturday.

The Kentucky Wildcats stepped onto the hardwood against LSU and earned the victory with a final of 95-64 in their last contest. Regarding fouls, the Wildcats ended up finishing with 12 and LSU accumulated 11 fouls. They also converted 6 of 22 tries from beyond the arc. LSU shot 60.0% at the charity stripe by knocking down 6 of 10 shots. Moreover, LSU pulled down 28 rebounds (3 offensive, 25 defensive), but didn't notch a block. LSU earned 12 dimes and had 6 steals in the matchup. With respect to defense, Kentucky let their opponent shoot 44.8% from the floor on 26 out of 58 shooting. They also doled out 22 dimes for this game as well as forcing 16 turnovers and getting 13 steals. When it comes to rebounding, they collected 36 with 6 of them being offensive. At the charity stripe, the Wildcats buried 11 of their 11 attempts for a rate of 100.0%. Kentucky ended the contest with a 50.7% FG percentage (36 out of 71) and knocked down 12 of 32 3-point shots.

Otega Oweh is a player who was a major factor in this contest. He walked away from this one shooting 81.8% from the floor and also earned 3 assists. He played 26 minutes played and also grabbed 8 rebounds. He left the arena with 24 points on 9 of 11 shooting.

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Kentucky heads into this game with a mark of 20-10 this season. They turn it over 10.9 times per game and as a team are committing 17.2 personal fouls on a nightly basis. As a unit, Kentucky is snagging 38.8 rebounds per contest and is sitting with 514 dimes on the season, which is 18th in the country in terms of passing the ball. The Wildcats are connecting on 37.3% on shots from downtown (293 of 785) and 74.2% from the charity stripe. They currently have an average of 85.6 points per contest (3rd in Division 1) while going 48.4% from the floor.

Defensively, the Wildcats are able to force 10.3 turnovers on a nightly basis and they draw 17.5 fouls. They currently rank 141st in college hoops in allowing assists with 382 surrendered on the season. The Wildcats are giving up a field goal percentage of 43.3% (817 of 1,887) and they surrender 35.0 boards per game as a unit. They are giving up 30.1% on shots from beyond the perimeter while they are 311th in the country in opponents points per game (76.8).

When they last stepped on the court, the Missouri Tigers took a defeat with a final score of 96-84 when they faced Oklahoma. In reference to how they rebounded, Missouri allowed Oklahoma to collect 25 overall (7 on the offensive side). They finished shooting 41.2% from beyond the arc via 7 out of 17 and ended up going 25 out of 26 at the charity stripe (96.2%). The Tigers permitted Oklahoma to convert 32 of 56 tries from the floor which left them shooting 57.1% in the matchup. Overall, the Tigers ended up shooting 28 out of 60 from the floor which had them sitting at 46.7%. When discussing 3-point attempts, Missouri made 9 out of their 31 tries (29.0%). They were able to make 19 of the free throw tries for a rate of 79.2%. Oklahoma earned 19 fouls in this game which took the Tigers to the charity stripe for a total of 24 attempts. They gave up possession of the ball 10 times, while getting 4 steals in this contest. The Tigers were able to pull down 15 defensive rebounds and 11 offensive boards totaling 26 for this game.

Mark Mitchell was important for the Tigers for the contest. He earned 18 points in his 25 minutes on the hardwood and had 4 assists for the game. He converted 7 out of 8 for the matchup for a rate of 87.5%, and earned 2 rebounds.

Missouri has a record of 21-9 this year. The Tigers are committing 18.0 fouls every game and they hit 72.8% from the charity stripe. They are earning an assist 14.1 times per game (144th in the country) and they turn it over 10.7 times per contest. Missouri has accounted for 2,538 points this year (84.6 per contest) and they average 34.0 rebounds per game. On the offensive side of the ball, the Tigers are shooting 48.9% from the floor, which is 17th in college.

The Missouri defense gives up 33.2% on 3-point attempts (216 of 651) and opponents are making 76.2% of their free throw attempts. They have surrendered 12.1 dimes and 32.6 boards per contest, which ranks 82nd and 81st in college hoops. The Tigers are ranked 201st in the nation in PPG given up with 72.6. They are able to force 14.3 TO's every game and have let teams shoot 43.9% from the field (189th in college).

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Missouri

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