The Indiana Hoosiers take on the Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington, Kentucky. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Kentucky is favored by -3 points on the spread with a moneyline of -160. The total is set at 159.5 points.
Here’s my Indiana vs. Kentucky prediction and college basketball picks for December 13, 2025.
Indiana vs Kentucky Prediction
My Pick: Indiana +3 or Better
My Indiana vs Kentucky best bet is on the Hoosiers to cover the spread. For all of your college basketball bets, be sure to find the best lines by using our live NCAAB odds page.
Indiana vs. Kentucky Odds, Spread
| Indiana Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+3 -105 | 159.5 -105 / -115 | +135 |
| Kentucky Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-3 -115 | 159.5 -105 / -115 | -160 |
- Indiana vs Kentucky spread: Kentucky -3
- Indiana vs Kentucky over/under: 159.5 points
- Indiana vs Kentucky moneyline: Indiana +135, Kentucky -160
Indiana vs Kentucky NCAAB Betting Preview
What a beautiful game to be played on the perfect day to play it.
You have two of college basketball's six true blue blood programs (let's not dig into this and start an argument), from bordering states with fewer than 200 miles between campuses, and one of the most amazing aesthetically perfect uniform combinations available in the sport, all being played on the first day of winter that college football takes a backseat on the calendar.
Put the game in an iconic home venue, and we're cooking with gas.
Best of all, both teams are ranked, but imperfect. These are teams with dreams of playing in April, but with clear flaws that could pose major obstacles all season long.
Indiana Basketball
When Indiana's coaching vacancy opened, the list of interested parties was shorter than longtime Hoosier fans might have wished.
Darian DeVries was a solid hire, capable of raising the floor in Bloomington, but left questions about the possibility of raising the ceiling back to Big Ten contention and national prominence.
That was particularly true when he brought his son Tucker along, as he did when he moved from Drake to West Virginia a season ago.
Tucker DeVries is a very good college basketball player whose career now seems odd. He was the best player and 20-point-per-game scorer in his second and third years at Drake, for Bulldog teams that went 55-15 and earned consecutive NCAA Tournament berths.
Neither of those teams made noise in March, nor did West Virginia when the DeVries duo made their way to Morgantown last season.
Tucker had his worst collegiate season by a variety of metrics, including points per 40 minutes, while facing a power-conference schedule for the first time.
The idea that Darian DeVries would arrive in Bloomington to save Indiana, with his son as the focal point of the roster, did not hold much water.
But Indiana is not West Virginia, and those two programs do not have the same resources to build a roster.
Tucker DeVries does not lead this team in scoring and is third in usage rate. Lamar Wilkerson, who scored 21 points per game at Sam Houston State last year, has led the way in the scoring column, while former Sun Belt Player of the Year Tayton Conerway has initiated the offense and has an assist rate north of 30%.
Tucker DeVries could be the primary scoring option for a power conference team, yet at this point in his career, most would not view that team as a contender.
This team, on the other hand, uses his skills as an inside-outside scorer and mismatch for defenders as a secondary tool, putting him and these Hoosiers in position for real success.
Kentucky Basketball
While the Indiana roster is built to be greater than the sum of its parts, the Kentucky roster is not. Basket Under Review's Will Warren recently did a deep dive into Mark Pope's issues building lineups with the roster at his disposal.
Kentucky has too many non-shooters and minus-defenders. Two or more non-shooters on the floor at the same time leads to clogged lanes and sluggish offense. Offset that issue by inserting a shooter, and the defensive end suffers quickly.
There's no easy answer for Pope.
Otega Oweh was expected to perform like an All-American, but the roster built around him makes his life more difficult. It's almost like a quarterback's surrounding situation, comprising coaching, offensive line, and weapons, that hinders his ability to perform.
Jaland Lowe and Denzel Aberdeen were wins in the transfer portal, from a talent perspective, but neither is a shooter. That clogs driving lanes for Oweh and each other, junking up the Kentucky offense.
The offense's tendency to get sluggish has been Kentucky's most significant issue.
When the problem lasts all 40 minutes, the Wildcats can lay an absolute dud, as they did in blowout losses to Michigan State and Gonzaga. Even when the offense sputters for part of the game, Kentucky can fall behind, like when Louisville built a 20-point lead against Big Blue.
Indiana vs. Kentucky Betting Analysis
If you're looking for a Kentucky bounce-back performance after the losses to North Carolina and Gonzaga (ignoring the ensuing blowout of North Carolina Central), you'd certainly be glad this game comes at home at Rupp Arena.
I'm going the other way, happy to take the visiting Hoosiers to cover the spread.
A road game at Rupp would be more daunting for a less-traveled team, but Indiana is the single most experienced team in college hoops, per KenPom. The Hoosier starting five has a total of 20 college basketball seasons under its belt, with three fourth-year players and DeVries in his fifth.
The Hoosier defense should show up on the road, and the Kentucky lineup puzzle should struggle against an Indiana team with lots of ways to win.
I'll think about Indiana ML, but I'll confidently grab the Hoosiers with the points.
My Pick: Indiana +3 or Better
