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Struggling\u00a0Louisville<\/a> faces its toughest test of the season Thursday when it plays host to in-state rival\u00a0Kentucky<\/a>\u00a0at the KFC Yum! Center. This will mark the 56th meeting between the two historic programs and the Wildcats hold a 38-17 all-time edge over the Cardinals.\u00a0
No. 9 Kentucky is coming off its biggest win of the season against previous ninth-ranked North Carolina<\/a> at the CBS Sports Classic. The Wildcats have won six of their last seven games dating back to a loss to preseason No. 1 Kansas<\/a> in the Champions Classic and Kentucky’s No. 1 high school recruiting class led by Aaron Bradshaw<\/a>, Rob Dillingham<\/a>, Justin Edwards<\/a>, Reed Sheppard<\/a> and D.J. Wagner<\/a> is starting to hit its stride.\u00a0
As for Louisville, Year 2 of the Kenny Payne era has been a disaster. The Cardinals sit at 5-6 and recently broke their three-game losing streak with a win at home against Pepperdine<\/a> last weekend. Payne, the former longtime Kentucky assistant, could be on the final days of his tenure <\/a><\/span>at his alma mater unless things turnaround quickly.\u00a0
Date<\/strong>: Thursday, Dec. 21\u00a0|\u00a0Time<\/strong>: 6 p.m. ET
Location<\/strong>: KFC Yum! Center — Louisville, Kentucky
TV:<\/strong>\u00a0ESPN |\u00a0Live stream: <\/strong>fuboTV<\/a> (Try for free)
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Odds via SportsLine consensus<\/em>
Once upon a time, this rivalry game used to be one of, if not the premier nonconference game in the sport. Now, it’s simply reduced to just one of the best rivalries in college basketball where one program is ranked in the top-10 and the other is on a massive free fall. That’s not to say this game doesn’t matter. If Louisville pulls off an upset over Kentucky, it would bring new life into the program and potentially lead to a turnaround. While that seems unlikely based on what we have seen this season, it’s hard to imagine Louisville not getting up for this game at home against its greatest rival. Kentucky should win this game, but Louisville will keep it close enough in the second half to make things interesting.\u00a0Prediction: Louisville +14<\/em><\/strong>
Who wins every college basketball game? And which teams could sink your bankroll?\u00a0Visit SportsLine now to see how to pick every college basketball game, all from the model that simulates every game 10,000 times and has generated over $2,000 in profit the last four-plus years<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong>
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Play Now Football Pick’em Play Now College Pick’em Dominate your league! A Daily SportsLine Betting Podcast Struggling\u00a0Louisville faces its toughest test of the season Thursday when it plays host to in-state rival\u00a0Kentucky\u00a0at the KFC Yum! Center. This will mark the 56th meeting between the two historic programs and the Wildcats hold a 38-17 all-time edge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n