Sweet Sixteen: Kansas State Wildcats vs. Kentucky Wildcats

Sweet Sixteen Has None of Top Seeds

The fans at Philips Arena will see a Sweet Sixteen matchup between the Kansas State Wildcats and the Kentucky Wildcats. when they take their seats on Thursday. Tip-off for this South Regional matchup will be around 9:37 pm EST. CBS will have the coverage after the Loyola (IL) and Nevada contest.

Oddsmakers opened the Wildcats as -5-point favorites versus the Wildcats, while the game's total opened at 140.5. The line held at 5, but the total has dropped to 136.5.

Tonight's game will be the first meeting between the schools since 2014. Kentucky defeated Kansas State in the first round of NCAA Tournament on the way to the championship game.

This is a tournament for first's so far this season. For the first time ever, none of the top four seeds advanced in the South Regional. Virginia, Cincinnati, Tennessee and Arizona lost, and it wasn't always pretty.

The four teams in Atlanta vying for a spot in the Final Four are No. 5 seed Kentucky vs. No. 9 Kansas State and No. 7 Nevada vs. No. 11 Loyola-Chicago.

Kentucky Playing Well Headed into Sweet Sixteen

Kentucky reached the Sweet Sixteen with a 78-73 victory over Davidson. Then they had a 95-75 rout of Buffalo. That is the team that punched Arizona in the "ding-ding" by 21 points.

The Wildcats of Kentucky is led in scoring by Kevin Knox at 15.6 points per game. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander comes in at 14.4 ppg.  He is coming off a 27-point effort against Buffalo. PJ Washington averages 10.6 ppg and Hamidou Diallo averages 10.3. That includes 22 points on Saturday.

Kentucky averages 77.3 points as a team. They are shooting 47.4 percent from the floor. Defense is what rules the day. Kentucky ranks No. 3 in the nation is 3-point defense and No. 21 in overall field goal percentage defense.

KState Back in Sweet Sixteen After Long Dry Spell

Kansas State is back in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2010. Kansas State is the No. 8 seed. They had to defeat Creighton and tournament darling UMBC to advance. They were missing their best player to injury.

KState enters this week with a major question. When will leading scorer Dean Wade be available? He has missed the past three games because of a stress fracture in his foot. He told reporters Sunday that he was "98 percent and hoping to play against Kentucky."

The 6-foot-10 forward was a first team All-Big 12 performer. He had averages of 16.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.

Guard Barry Brown is 2nd on the team at 16.1 points. Forward Xavier Sneed is at 10.7. Sneed had eight points, seven rebounds, four steals and two assists in Kansas State's win over UMBC.

Kansas State averages 71.6 points per game. They are shooting 47 percent overall and 34.3% from 3-point range.

Kentucky and Kansas State had four common opponents this season. Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Georgia and Kansas. Kentucky was 5-1 in those games while Kansas State was 2-5.

Recent Form

Name	Record	ATS	Offense	Defense	Diff	ATS Home	ATS Away	OU Record	OU Home	OU Away
Kansas State	24-11	15-17	71.63	66.91	4.72	7-7	6-4	11-20-1	4-9-1	5-5
Kentucky	26-10	19-17	77.28	70.50	6.78	8-10	4-6	22-14	11-7	5-5

Power Stats

Assists Turnovers
Name	Assists	Turnovers	Ratio
KANST	13.97	11.66	1.2
KENTY	13.39	12.92	1.04

Rebounding
Name	Offense	Defense	Total
KANST	8.03	22.83	30.86
KENTY	11.94	26.67	38.61

ShootingPercentage
Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
KANST	47.03	42.25	4.78
KENTY	47.37	40.49	6.88

Team Records

Kansas State Wildcats

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	24-11	17-5	7-6	15-17	8-11	7-6	71.63	66.91	4.72
Last 10	7-3	5-0	2-3	6-4	4-1	2-3	68.30	65.40	2.90
vs Conf	11-9	7-3	4-6	12-8	7-3	5-5	70.55	72.10	-1.55

Kentucky Wildcats

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	26-10	21-3	5-7	19-17	13-11	6-6	77.28	70.50	6.78
Last 10	9-1	7-0	2-1	9-1	7-0	2-1	81.60	69.90	11.70
vs Conf	13-8	9-2	4-6	10-11	6-5	4-6	73.71	70.38	3.33

Sweet Sixteen Supergrid

Title	Stat	Rank	Stat	Rank
Away Team Overall Scoring vs Home Team Overall Defense	71.63	191	70.50	101
Home Team Overall Scoring vs Away Team Overall Defense	77.28	64	66.91	39

Head To Head Summary

Team	record	ATS	O/U	AVG	AVG ½	FG%	REB	3PT	steals
Kansas State	0-2	0-1-1	1-1	60.50	23.00	36.13	26.50	12/42	8.50
Kentucky	2-0	1-0-1	1-1	65.00	33.00	50.00	36.00	9/23	6.50

Head To Head Detail

Date	Away	away score	Home	home score	line	ATS	Total	O/U	FG% Edge	Reb Edge	3PT Edge	Away Half Score	Home Half Score	Away FG%	Home FG%	Away Rebounds	Home Rebounds	Away Three Pointers	Home Three Pointers	Away Steals	Home Steals
Mar 21, 2014	KANST	49	KENTY	56	-6	KENTY	131.5	U	KENTY	KENTY	KANST	23	29	35.8	38	28	40	5/21	4/15	7	4
Nov 28, 2008	KANST	72	KENTY	74	-2	Push	139	O	KENTY	KENTY	KANST	23	37	36.4	68.8	25	32	7/21	5/8	10	9

Sweet Sixteen Betting Trends

Kansas State Wildcats
Kansas State is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 13 of Kansas State's last 19 games

Kentucky Wildcats
Kentucky is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games
Kentucky is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 9 of Kentucky's last 10 games

Team Last 5 Games

Kansas State Wildcats

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	Total	ATS Result	field goal percentage	free throw percentage	three pointers	Location
Mar 18, 2018	UMBC	50-43	W	-9.5	136.5	L/U	40.91	72.22	1	H
Mar 16, 2018	CREIG	69-59	W	2	143.5	W/U	46.00	56.00	9	A
Mar 9, 2018	KANSA	67-83	L	7.5	138.5	L/O	46.67	69.23	2	A
Mar 8, 2018	TCU	66-64	W	3	143	W/U	46.43	64.71	3	H
Mar 3, 2018	BAYLR	77-67	W	-2.5	135.5	W/O	52.00	79.17	6	H

Kentucky Wildcats

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	Total	ATS Result	field goal percentage	free throw percentage	three pointers	Location
Mar 17, 2018	BUFF	95-75	W	-5.5	154	W/O	56.25	69.57	7	H
Mar 15, 2018	DAVID	78-73	W	-4.5	141	W/O	50.98	81.25	0	H
Mar 11, 2018	TENN	77-72	W	2	137	W/O	50.00	83.33	7	A
Mar 10, 2018	ALA	86-63	W	-4.5	139.5	W/O	64.29	71.43	12	H
Mar 9, 2018	GA	62-49	W	-4.5	134.5	W/U	42.62	50.00	5	H

Get all Your College Basketball Odds at Bovada Online Sportsbook.