It’s time to continue our College Basketball odds series with a Troy-Kentucky prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Troy-Kentucky.
The Kentucky Wildcats enter the 2025 NCAA Tournament with a new head coach. For the past decade and a half, Kentucky was coached in March Madness by John Calipari, who was hitting home runs from 2011 through 2015 as he led the Wildcats to several Final Fours and a national championship in 2012. Kentucky made four Final Fours in five years under Calipari. When Kentucky was bounced by Wisconsin in the 2015 national semifinals, no one thought at the time that it would be Calipari’s last Final Four with Big Blue. Yet, that’s exactly what happened. Calipari spent nine seasons failing to return to the Final Four. He wore out his welcome in Lexington. In comes Mark Pope, a member of the 1996 national championship team under former coach Rick Pitino, to restore the expected standard at Kentucky. UK is not the favorite to advance out of the Midwest Region, and the Wildcats have been hit by a number of important injuries this season. Pope is not expected to make the Final Four this year, but this will be the end of his grace period. Next year, the Final Four will be demanded of him.
For now, Pope needs to at least get past the first round. One year ago, Calipari and Kentucky were bounced as a 3 seed by No. 14 seed Oakland. Pope cannot afford to lose to a 14 seed in his first March Madness game.
Here are the Troy-Kentucky College Basketball Odds, courtesy of FanDuel
2025 March Madness Tournament Odds: Troy-Kentucky Odds
Troy: +11.5 (-115)
Moneyline: +460
Kentucky: -11.5 (-105)
Moneyline: -650
Over: 152.5 (-106)
Under: 152.5 (-114)
How to Watch Troy vs Kentucky
Time: 7:10 p.m. ET/4:10 p.m. PT
TV: CBS
*Watch college basketball LIVE with fuboTV (Get Access | Save $30)*
Why Troy Will Cover The Spread/Win
Kentucky is not a fully healthy team. The Wildcats have been shredded by injuries for most of the season and have not been able to put their preferred starting five on the floor. It is uncertain how UK will function in a tournament setting with players either being unavailable or ineffective. Kentucky has struggled to play defense this season, so a lower seed such as Troy should actually have some freedom and success at the offensive end of the floor, which is a great recipe for covering a spread, particularly one which is a double-figure number. Troy losing by only eight or nine points seems like a highly realistic and very possible outcome here.
Why Kentucky Will Cover The Spread/Win
Kentucky has spent all year wanting to be better in the NCAA Tournament than it was 12 months ago against Oakland. It’s true that a number of the players on this team were not on last year’s March Madness roster, but it’s still a big talking point to restore the expected standard at Kentucky. Mark Pope should coach this game well. He should get the right energy and the right level of focus from his team. Kentucky has elite players, but Calipari failed to get them to mesh in March. Pope should improve upon that recent run of difficulty for Kentucky in March. This time, Big Blue will be better — a lot better, and enough to cover the spread.
Final Troy-Kentucky Prediction & Pick
Our lean is to Troy, but we aren’t going to bet on a 14 seed. Maybe wait for a halftime live play here.
Final Troy-Kentucky Prediction & Pick: Troy +11.5
The post Troy vs Kentucky prediction, odds, pick for Men’s March Madness 2025 appeared first on ClutchPoints.
