Quick Picks with Coach Rick Bowe, CBB Picks, CBB Free Picks, CBB Predictions 1/27/26

Quick Picks with Coach Rick Bowe, CBB Picks, CBB Free Picks, CBB Predictions 1/27/26

KENTUCKY @ VANDERBILT (VAN -6.5, 159.5)

CBB ODDS, CBB PREDICTIONS, CBB PREVIEWS

COACH RICK CBB PREVIEWS

WILDCATS @ COMMODORES 1/27/26

Tonight in Nashville, Kentucky will travel to No. 18 Vanderbilt in an attempt to continue its five-game league winning streak. The banged-up Wildcats (14-6, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) scored a 72-63 home win over Ole Miss on Saturday despite playing without key players in starting point guard Jaland Lowe and forwards Kam Williams and Jayden Quaintance. Senior guard Otega Oweh, who has averaged 16.1 points for 20 games overall and 19.7 points in league games, scored 23 points in the victory.

Coach Mark Pope praised his team's tenacity and selflessness while giving nine players double-digit minutes.

"What we have right now is we have guys making winning plays," Pope Francis stated. "So, we have guys that are falling in love with making the dirty, non-scoring, massively important winning plays of the game. We have guys stepping up and doing that all over the place, and it's why we've had so much success in all these close games, and it's because guys are falling in love with it."

Vanderbilt (17-3, 4-3) defeated Mississippi State 88-56 on Saturday to end a three-game losing streak. Frankie Collins, one of the Commodores' top three guards, did not play, but Tyler Tanner (24 points, five assists) and Duke Miles (17 points, seven steals) more than made up for it.

In that three-game losing streak, Vanderbilt had played terrible defense, giving up 80 points against Texas, 98 to Florida, and 93 to Arkansas in a 25-point defeat. The Commodores held MSU's Josh Hubbard, the SEC's top scorer at the time, to seven points on Saturday, lowering his average to 21 points per game. Coach Mark Byington, who described the Jan. 20 effort against Arkansas as "embarrassing," was ecstatic.

"Our activity was great," Byington remarked. "Our defense was really locked in today, and (Mississippi State has) some talented offensive players. The SEC's leading scorer in the league, he's tough to guard. Our guys' approach to the game was really good."

Kentucky's Lowe (season-ending shoulder injury) and Williams (broken foot) are out, and Quaintance (knee) likely won't be available for tonight’s game. But Vanderbilt's Collins, who averaged 7.8 points, 20.9 minutes and 2.4 steals over nine games, might play after missing the last nine games with a meniscus injury.

The Commodores can get easy baskets in transition off turnovers thanks to disruptive defenders Collins, Tanner (17.4 ppg, 2.4 spg), and Miles (16.6 ppg, 2.8 spg).

Denzel Aberdeen, the point guard for Kentucky, faces a challenge because he has only made seven turnovers while dishing out 16 assists throughout the five-game winning streak. The Wildcats' decreasing tempo (18.4 seconds per defensive possession for the 341st slowest in the US, according to KenPom) and 16.6% defensive turnover rate in league games have helped them improve from their poor defensive performance early in the season.

Although Vanderbilt boasts a stellar 11.0% turnover rate in SEC games, they have had trouble against more powerful teams. Thus, players to keep an eye on are Kentucky's 7-foot Malachi Moreno, 6-11 Andrija Jelavic, and 6-10 Brandon Garrison, who together played over 58 minutes against Ole Miss.

Tanner (40.2%) and Tyler Nickel (14.7 ppg, 46.3% on 3s) of Vanderbilt are players to keep an eye on if Kentucky slows down to a half-court game.

Although Oweh (33.3% on 3-pointers), Collin Chandler (40.4%), and Aberdeen (36.8%) have had some success from beyond the arc, the Wildcats are not a strong outside shooting team.

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FREE PICK: VANDERBILT (1H) -3.5

Vanderbilt started the season 16-0 then promptly forgot how to play defense and lost three straight to Texas, Florida, and Arkansas. They started to get it right again with an 88-56 win over Mississippi State over the weekend and look to continue getting it right against Kentucky tonight. The Wildcats are banged up. Yes, they’ve won 5 straight, but they have struggled on the road and against teams that play an up-tempo style of basketball. Flash back to last year, Vandy was a 2.5-point dog to Kentucky at home and won by 5. Vandy ranks No. 2 in the nation in 1H scoring (46.0) and you can bet Mark Byington wants his team to start quickly. They’ve done so all season, covering 3.5 in the 1H in 15 of their 20 games.

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