Louisville vs Western Kentucky 12/14/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and the Louisville Cardinals meet in college basketball action from the KFC Yum! Center on Wednesday night.

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers will look to build on their 64-60 win over Wright State last time out. Dayvion McKnight leads the Hilltoppers in scoring and assists with 14.3 PPG and 5.3 APG while Emmanuel Akot has 13.1 PPG with 3.2 APG and Luke Frampton has 11.7 PPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for WKU up to this point in the season. Jamarion Sharp also has a team-high 6.3 RPG to lead the Hilltoppers in rebounding this season. As a team, Western Kentucky is averaging 76.9 PPG on 48.2% shooting from the field, 43.3% from three and 68.8% from the foul line this season.

The Louisville Cardinals will be out to bounce back from their 0-9 start after a 75-53 loss to Florida State last time out. El Ellis leads the Cardinals in scoring and assists as the lone double-digit scorer for Louisville so far this season, logging 15.6 PPG and 3.4 APG to lead the Cardinals in the assist department as well. Jae’Lyn Withers has 8.6 PPG with 5 RPG and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield has a team-high 6.2 RPG to lead the Cardinals on the glass this season. As a team, Louisville is averaging 56.9 points per game on 37.2% shooting from the field, 28.8% from three point range and 72.4% from the foul line up to this point in the season.

Western Kentucky is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 road games and 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games following a win while the over is 6-2 in their last 8 Wednesday games. Louisville is 0-5 ATS in their last 5 home games against a team with a winning road record and 0-6 ATS in their last 6 games following a loss by 20+ points while the under is 5-0-1 in their last 6 home games.

I get the case to be made for a home dog, but not this one. Louisville won’t lose and fail to cover every game, I don’t think… But until they show signs of life, you have to keep going the other way, especially when you have a Western Kentucky team on the other side that’s top-20 in the country in terms of 3-point percentage. I’ll side with the Hilltoppers to add to Louisville’s misery here.