Kentucky Wildcats square off against Troy Trojans in opening round of NCAA Tournament

Troy Trojans (23-10, 16-5 Sun Belt) vs. Kentucky Wildcats (22-11, 11-9 SEC)

Milwaukee; Friday, 7:10 p.m. EDT

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Wildcats -11.5; over/under is 152.5

BOTTOM LINE: No. 18 Kentucky plays in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Troy.

The Wildcats are 11-9 against SEC opponents and 11-2 in non-conference play. Kentucky has a 3-0 record in one-possession games.

The Trojans' record in Sun Belt play is 16-5. Troy is 2-4 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.

Kentucky averages 85.3 points, 19.9 more per game than the 65.4 Troy allows. Troy averages 73.9 points per game, 4.0 fewer than the 77.9 Kentucky allows.

TOP PERFORMERS: Koby Brea averages 2.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Wildcats, scoring 11.5 points while shooting 43.9% from beyond the arc. Otega Oweh is averaging 16.2 points and 1.6 steals over the last 10 games.

Thomas Dowd is shooting 30.7% from beyond the arc with 1.4 made 3-pointers per game for the Trojans, while averaging 9.9 points and 6.8 rebounds. Tayton Conerway is averaging 17.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.7 steals over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Wildcats: 6-4, averaging 82.0 points, 31.3 rebounds, 14.4 assists, 8.1 steals and 3.2 blocks per game while shooting 47.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 80.9 points per game.

Trojans: 8-2, averaging 75.1 points, 35.8 rebounds, 12.2 assists, 9.6 steals and 5.5 blocks per game while shooting 42.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.0 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.