Wichita State pulled off the "upset" on Friday with their win over Dayton, even though they were favored as a 10 seed. Kentucky played an in-state battle against Northern Kentucky and came through with a nine-point win.
Normally we would give a 2 seed a higher probability to beat a 10 seed. However, Wichita State isn't a normal 10 seed. In fact, they are the 9th best team in the nation in terms of nERD.
Below are three players to keep an eye on from each team.
| Player | Team | PPG | RPG | eFG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malik Monk | Kentucky | 20.4 | 2.5 | 0.550 |
| De'Aaron Fox | Kentucky | 16.1 | 4.1 | 0.494 |
| Edrice Adebayo | Kentucky | 13.3 | 7.8 | 0.614 |
| Markis McDuffie | Wichita St. | 11.8 | 5.7 | 0.540 |
| Landry Shamet | Wichita St. | 11.1 | 2.8 | 0.606 |
| Darral Willis Jr. | Wichita St. | 10.2 | 5.3 | 0.543 |
Here is a quick breakdown of the team stats comparison.
| Team | nERD | O Rtg | eFG% | Reb% | TOV% | D Rtg | Opp. eFG% | Opp. TOV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #2 Kentucky | 19.62 | 114.4 | 0.532 | 53.4 | 13.7 | 95.4 | 0.474 | 17.3 |
| #10 Wichita St. | 17.27 | 117.7 | 0.547 | 56.0 | 13.8 | 89.5 | 0.438 | 17.8 |