NCAA Basketball Free Picks and Vegas Odds: Connecticut Huskies at Louisville Cardinals Predictions – College Basketball Betting 2/18/11: Guard Kemba Walker will lead the Connecticut Huskies on the road to the KFC Yum! Center to take on Head basketball coach Rick Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals on Friday night at 9:00 PM ET on ESPN. The Huskies enter the game on a two game winning streak and are 20-5 overall – good for 4th in the Big East and are ranked 13th nationally. The Cardinals have lost 2 of 3 and come in at 19-7 – tied for 4th in the Big East and ranked 16th in the nation. Louisville won the previous meeting at UConn 79-78 in double overtime.
“Louisville gave us a great deal of problems with their matchup (zone), but they particularly gave us problems by spacing the floor exceptionally well,” Calhoun said. “So we’ve got a lot of work to do. Our job will be to solve their matchup a little better than we did the first time and secondly, take away their fast break and their perimeter shooting.” Sophomore guard Peyton Siva was instrumental in the victory with 19 points three steals and dishing 7 dimes and scoring in the 2nd OT. “He killed us the first time,” Calhoun said. “He made the difference, set up the late 3-point shots, caused us all kinds of problems.” The odds makers at JustBET have the Louisville Cardinals a -3 1/2 point favorite at home against the Connecticut Huskies.
The Cardinals are coming off a loss 63-54 at the Cincinnati Bearcats to move to 11-9 ATS for the season. Forward Terrence Jennings was the only Cardinal in double figures with 14 points and 4 rebounds in the loss. ”When you get in a game like that when it is such a slow-paced game and it’s smash-mouth basketball, you have to match the defensive effort without fouling,” Pitino said. ”We physically couldn’t match that and that is the reason that we lost the game.” Louisville is 6-1-1 ATS in its last 8 games when playing Connecticut. Vegas odds makers have the Louisville Cardinals +4000 odds to win the 2011 Men’s Basketball National Championship.
The Huskies are coming off a victory 78-70 over Georgetown at home to move to an impressive 12-7 ATS with a Big East schedule. Kemba Walker had a big night with 31 points pulling down 7 rebounds and dishing 10 assists in 40 minutes of play. The total has gone OVER in 6 of Connecticut’s last 8 games on the road. Get the latest College Basketball odds on today’s Uconn-Louisville matchup on NSAwins.com.
Recent Trends:
Connecticut: UCONN are 3-13 ATS in their last 16 Fri. games.
Under is 8-3 in UCONN last 11 overall.
Over is 8-3 in UCONN last 11 Fri. games.
Louisville: Under is 6-2 in LOUVI last 8 home games.
LOUVI are 4-10 ATS in their last 14 Fri. games.
Head to Head: UCONN are 1-6-1 ATS in the last 8 meetings.
Current Vegas Odds: Favorite: Louisville -3.5 Total: O/U 138
College Basketball Expert Predictions from NSAwins.com: UNDER 138
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