Kansas State vs Kentucky 3/22/18 - College Basketball Picks & Predictions

The 9th seeded Kansas State Wildcats will play the 5th seeded Kentucky Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament South Region Sweet 16 on Thursday March 22. K-State reached the round of 16 with its 50-43 win over the UMBC Retrievers on Sunday. The Wildcats were led by Barry Brown with 18 points. The Wildcats started slow not scoring for the first 6:20 of the game but ended the half on a 17-8 run to lead by five.

Kentucky reached the round of 16 off its 95-75 win over Buffalo in the second round. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit 10 of his 12 field goals in the game to lead the Wildcats with 27 points, while pulling down six rebounds and handing out six assists. This is the second straight Sweet 16 for Kentucky. Dean Wade leads Kansas State in scoring averaging 16.5 points per game but a foot injury has kept him from playing the last two games and his status is unknown for Thursday’s game. Barry Brown is second for the Wildcats in scoring with an average of 16.1 points per game. Wade also leads the Wildcats in rebounding with an average of 6.3 per game, while Xavier Sneed is second in rebounding averaging 4.9 per game. As a team, the Wildcats are shooting 47% from the field and 34.3% from 3-point territory. Kansas State scores an average of 72.3 points per game, while allowing an average of 67.6.

Kenny Knox leads the Kentucky in scoring with an average of 15.6 points per game. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the second leading scorer and team leader in assists averaging 14.4 points and 5.1 assists per game. The leader in rebounding is PJ Washington averaging 5.5 per game. As a team, Kentucky is shooting 47.3% from the field and 35.7% from 3-point territory. Kentucky scores an average of 77.3 points per game, while allowing an average of 70.5.