American Airlines Arena – Miami, FL
Tip-off: Friday, 5:00 p.m. ET
Line: Kentucky -22.5, Total: 139

No. 1 Kentucky, travels to Miami on Friday to play South Florida, which is led by former Wildcats’ assistant, Orlando Antigua.

In John Calipari’s first game coaching the No. 1 Wildcats in 2015-16, Kentucky won, but failed to cover the 24-point spread in an 82-62 win over Boston University. Kentucky is 63-5 as No. 1 under Calipari, who has strong ties to the Bulls program, in the form of his former assistant and now Bulls head coach Orlando Antigua. The pair worked together at Memphis for one year and then on the sidelines at Kentucky for five seasons. This is Antigua’s second year with rebuilding South Florida, which is coming off its first win of the season Tuesday, 63-61 over Albany. The Bulls started off their 2015-16 campaign with four straight losses, including a defeat at the hands of the same Boston University squad that the Wildcats just defeated by 20. South Florida is just 3-21 SU in its past 24 games, and has lost 17 straight games against ranked opponents dating back to 2012. Kentucky is 2-3 ATS this season, including 1-3 ATS when the spread is at least 19.5 points. South Florida is 1-1 ATS, failing to cover as an 8-point favorite in the season-opening loss to Troy, while covering at +10 versus George Washington in a 73-67 loss. Don’t expect long-distance fireworks in this one, as both team’s strengths are in the paint. Kentucky and South Florida have combined for a putrid 9-of-34 shooting from behind the arc this season with 26% and 24% threes, respectively.

Will Kentucky win and cover the monster spread over South Florida? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2015-16 season.

One of the players leading Kentucky’s efforts Friday will be F Alex Poythress (8.8 PPG, 7.4 RPG), who has started to look like himself again after major knee surgery cut his season short in December last season, as he’s fresh off a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) versus Boston University. Poythress is one key player in Kentucky’s rotation that was recruited in high school by Antigua to play for the Wildcats. Kentucky matches up well with the Bulls, neutralizing South Florida’s interior strength with an even more talented frontline including freshman phenom F Skal Labissiere (14.2 PPG, 2.2 BPG, 62% FG) and athletic F Marcus Lee (8.2 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 1.8 BPG). The Wildcats have outrebounded all five of their opponents this season and held opponents to 37.6% FG in the process. Coach Calipari’s backcourt is led by sophomore G Tyler Ulis (14.4 PPG, 4.8 APG) who has had a solid floor game, while taking on 12+ more minutes per game as a freshman. Ulis has struggled mightily from the field (39% FG, 21% threes), but that hasn’t held Kentucky back to this point. The freshmen that round out the starting lineup, G Jamal Murray (13.6 PPG, 1.6 threes per game) and G Isaiah Briscoe (12.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG), have been as advertised with more good than bad. Murray tends to turn it over too much (3.8 TOPG), and Briscoe has extreme issues at the line (5-of-15 FT), but unlike last season’s Wildcats, Calipari has no choice but to throw these highly-touted freshmen into the fire playing major minutes at 33.0 MPG each.

It will take a herculean effort for the Bulls to pull off the upset of the season, but they’ll be playing in a familiar setting close to home (American Airlines Arena), and they’ll be well-prepared to defend Kentucky, given head coach Orlando Antigua’s knowledge of Calipari’s tendencies. Unfortunately South Florida isn’t a very good basketball team, although it doesn’t lack high-major talent. The Bulls sport two transfers from highly successful programs in F Angel Nunez (11.4 PPG, 6.0 RPG) formerly of Louisville and Gonzaga, and G Roddy Peters (11.2 PPG, 4.8 APG) formerly of Maryland. Along with Nunez and Peters, South Florida returns its leading scorer from last season, F Chris Perry (8.8 PPG, 7.6 RPG), although his production has tailed off from a double-figure scoring average in 2014-15. F Jaleel Cousins (8.2 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 1.8 BPG) has seen his production skyrocket with more minutes in his senior season under Antigua. Jaleel Cousins has grabbed 35 rebounds in his past three games and is the younger brother of former Kentucky big man and NBA star DeMarcus Cousins. Along with Nunez, who hits 1.6 threes per game, the Bulls will have to hope than freshman G Jahmal McMurray (13.4 PPG), their leading scorer, regains his shooting form from the Bulls' first three games, when he made 11 threes. McMurray hasn’t hit from downtown in South Florida’s last two contests though, as the Bulls are 1-for-21 from three-point range over their past two games.