South Carolina vs. Arkansas: SEC Tournament Predictions (Wednesday)
The SEC Tournament kicks off today in Nashville, Tennessee as one of the most anticipated tournaments among the power conferences. As the tournament currently projects, 13 different SEC teams are in the tournament with the conference ranking as one of the best in the KenPom era. Even the 16-seeded South Carolina got some heralded wins and might've been a tournament team if it was in the ACC. However, the focus is on the top. Auburn is currently the consensus favorite to win the SEC tournament at +150, followed close behind by Florida (+250), Alabama (+425) and Tennessee (+600). Not only are these top SEC teams but all four rank in the top-six nationally. There's a decent chance your national champion is in that group there. Johni Broome is battling with Cooper Flagg for the Wooden Award and Auburn is fighting for Duke for title favorites but there is no question: the SEC is the best conference this year. Not surprisingly, all those teams have a bye today. Here are our top picks for Wednesday’s game South Carolina vs. Arkansas.
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Wednesday’s Best SEC Tournament Bets: South Carolina vs. Arkansas
(All bets are one unit)
South Carolina vs. Arkansas
Location: Bridgestone Arena | Nashville, TN
Line: Arkansas -3.0 | Total: 139.5
This hasn't been the best season for either squad playing in this game with South Carolina getting absolutely trounced to the tune of a 2-16 conference record. Collin Murray-Boyles is a silver lining and they did compete with a lot of good teams but fell short too many times for today's game to mean much. Arkansas, on the other hand, is fighting for its tournament lives.
After ranking 16th in the AP preseason poll with John Calipari coming over and the plethora of talent on this team. The season started fine but an 0-5 start to conference play set them back a bit. Since then, they've stepped up some, going 8-5 with a 33rd ranking (compared to 40th on the season) and the 14th-best defense in DI hoops. They've needed that with the offense ranking outside the top-70.
That is in large part due to the injuries to this team. Adou Thiero is presumably out along with Boogie Fland. As the two leading scorers for the team, that's a big blow and showed up as they couldn't generate any offense against South Carolina when they faced off earlier this month, scoring just 53 points.
Which brings us to the matchup. South Carolina doesn't exactly make a ton of shots but they do generate offense through getting to the charity stripe with a top-10 free throw rate in the nation. Nearly a quarter of their points come from free throws which is eighth highest in the nation. Their defense is respectable at a top-50 clip while limiting second-chance looks and slowing down opponents. For me, this game screams Under. It's on a neutral court and early in the day on a Wednesday. It's a must-win for Arkansas but I don't trust them to play clean, error-free ball. Additionally, both teams come with a defense-first mentality, knowing what to expect from the other offense. We've seen some low totals across the different conference tournaments, but this one isn't low enough.
Prediction: Arkansas 68, South Carolina 64
Best Bet: Under 139.5 (-110 at BetMGM)