Santa Clara vs. Kentucky First Round Game Preview, Picks, Betting Odds & Data

By Thom Cunningham | Mar 19, 2026, 4:59pm

The Santa Clara Broncos got an at-large bid to this year’s March Madness, taking on the Kentucky Wildcats in an interesting No. 7 vs. No. 10 matchup. Let’s go through the game’s betting data, odds and projections to determining how to wager this opening game for Friday’s action.

Santa Clara vs. Kentucky Game Information

Date: Friday, Mar. 20, 2026
Time: 12:15 p.m. ET
Network: CBS
Region: Midwest
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Venue: Enterprise Center

Santa Clara vs. Kentucky Betting Resources

Santa Clara vs. Kentucky Betting Odds

Santa Clara vs. Kentucky Betting Data

Santa Clara Broncos

Region Odds:
Sweet 16 Odds:
Elite Eight Odds:
Final Four Odds:
National Title Odds:

Seed: No. 10
Record: 26-8
Conference: WCC
PS/G: 82.9
PA/G: 72.4
ORtg: 118.9
DRtg: 104

Kentucky Wildcats

Region Odds:
Sweet 16 Odds:
Elite Eight Odds:
Final Four Odds:
National Title Odds:

Seed: No. 7
Record: 21-13
Conference: SEC
PS/G: 80.8
PA/G: 73.8
ORtg: 115.7
DRtg: 105.8

Santa Clara vs. Kentucky Key Players

Santa Clara Broncos

Christian Hammond (JR) – 15.8 ppg
Elijah Mahi (SR) – 13.9 ppg; 4.7 rpg
Allen Graves (SO) – 11.6 ppg; 6.5 rpg

Kentucky Wildcats

Otega Oweh (SR) – 18.2 ppg; 4.6 rpg
Denzel Aberdeen (SR) – 13.2 ppg

Santa Clara vs. Kentucky Betting Analysis

Kentucky doesn’t have many trends to go off of with some of the popular markets to wager on, posting a 17-17 O/U this season along with a 17-17 ATS mark, while 3-3 ATS on a neutral courts as well. Currently, Kentucky enters on a two-game ATS streak. The only trend that has any traction for Kentucky lies in the point total market, hitting the Over in four of six games.

Santa Clara isn’t much better, just 18-15 on the spread this season, 4-3 ATS as an underdog and 3-5 ATS on a neutral court. The Under has hit in four of five games for Santa Clara, but when comparing it to Kentucky’s point total trend we find ourselves at a dead end. The Broncos also enter this tournament on a 3-6 ATS skid over their last nine games.

Santa Clara vs. Kentucky Best Bet, Pick & Prediction

The score projection indicts a potential upset, Santa Clara also winning 16 of 17 games against non-AP ranked schools. The outright win is a bit scary to take, as is the spread with both teams having little traction to go off of, and if any the 3-6 ATS skid Santa Clara is on doesn’t leave us much conviction for the Broncos. We move to the total where the score projection indicates an Under, which we’ll buy.

Despite Kentucky’s 4-2 Over run, Santa Clara is 1-4 to the Under in its last five while Kentucky has actually gone Under 159 total points in six straight NCAA Tournament games.

Score Prediction: Santa Clara 78, Kentucky 76
Best Bet: Under 161 (-110)

Photo Credit: AP/Jeff Chiu

Thom Cunningham

Thom Cunningham is the Lineups.com News Editor and has been involved with sports media for almost two decades at Spectrum, VegasInsider.com, Oddschecker, VSiN and much more as a content producer - focused on the betting and gaming space over the last decade tracking insights, data analytics and covering various markets from the NFL to the Oscars.