Data Skrive

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers square off against the James Madison Dukes in the Boca Raton Bowl as 6.5-point underdogs on December 18, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. The contest has a point total set at 51.5.

In their last action, the Dukes lost versus the Marshall Thundering Herd, 35-33. Last time around, the Hilltoppers fell to the Jacksonville State Gamecocks, with 52-12 being the final score.

Keep up with college football all season on FOX Sports.

James Madison vs. Western Kentucky Game Information & Odds

• When: Wednesday, December 18, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. ET
• Location: FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida
• TV: ESPN
• Live Box Score on FOX Sports

James Madison vs. Western Kentucky Prediction

• Pick ATS:

  James Madison (-6.5)
  
  

• Pick OU: Over (51.5)
  
• Prediction: James Madison 33, Western Kentucky 22

Predictions are made by the Data Skrive betting model.

Learn more about the James Madison Dukes vs. the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers game on FOX Sports!

James Madison vs. Western Kentucky Betting Insights

• Based on the spread and over/under, the implied score for the tilt is Dukes 29, Hilltoppers 22.
• The Dukes have a 70.7% chance to collect the win in this contest per the moneyline’s implied probability. The Hilltoppers hold a 33.8% implied probability.
• James Madison is 6-6-0 ATS this season.
• Western Kentucky is 7-6-0 ATS this season.

James Madison vs. Western Kentucky: 2024 Stats Comparison

James Madison 2024 Key Players

Western Kentucky 2024 Key Players

FOX Sports created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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James Madison Dukes

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

College Football

The Kentucky–Louisville rivalry delivered on Saturday, with a scuffle breaking out in the second half between UK forward Brandon Garrison and the Cardinals’ bench. After the game, Kentucky head coach Mark Pope reflected on the wild moment.

“Listen, it wouldn’t have been an appropriate game if it wasn’t a tension-filled mosh pit down in front of their bench. That was probably the most fun part of the game, right?” Pope said. “But I think you have two organizations right now that have an insane amount of passion about winning and feel all of the joy and intensity and stress of this rivalry.

“But also are pretty good about being focused about what actually makes you play the best to give yourself the best chance to win. I think both programs are probably in that space somewhere.”

The skirmish broke out when Louisville’s Reyne Smith dove for a ball near the Cardinals’ bench and Garrison went after it, as well. While the two battled for the ball, Garrison stumbled into Louisville’s bench and some shoving ensued.

It didn’t last long with both Pat Kelsey and Mark Pope rushing into the action to keep their players from escalating the situation. Nonetheless, the short-lived incident energized the Rupp Arena crowd, with fans noticeably louder after the scuffle.

Kentucky ultimately responded best to the fracas, running away with a 93-85 win. In the victory, UK shot 32-55 (58.2%) from the field and 11-21 (52.4%) from beyond the arc. Pope’s Wildcats looked like a well-oiled machine, racking up 23 assists, compared to Louisville’s mere eight.

Pope believes his team used the scuffle as a motivating factor instead of allowing it to distract them.

“You have two veteran groups that are pretty focused on the way they compete the best, the way they give themselves the best chance to win,” Pope said. “It is to be laser-focused on the job at hand and be super disciplined about not letting the emotion be a distracting factor, if that makes sense. I was really proud of our guys.”

Kentucky fifth-year senior point guard Lamont Butler responded particularly well to the incident, erupting for a career-high 33 points while shooting 10-10 from the floor, including six 3-pointers.

Butler’s status was questionable leading up to the game due to an ankle injury that he’d suffered in Kentucky’s loss to Clemson on Dec. 3. Kentucky must maintain its focus as it prepares to square off against Ohio State on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET.

LEXINGTON — Unlike so many players who populate college basketball rosters — particularly at Kentucky, which has signed an abundance of McDonald’s All-Americans and has had more players selected in the NBA draft (and more first-round products) than any program in the country — Koby Brea wasn’t a can’t-miss prospect at the beginning of high school.

In fact, during his freshman season at Norman Thomas High School in New York, he didn’t survive roster cuts to make the team. Brea used it as motivation after transferring to Monsignor Scanlan High School, located in the Bronx. His first season at Monsignor Scanlan, Brea helped the junior varsity team reach the final four of the city championship tournament. Later that year, he represented the Dominican National Team in the U-17 FIBA Centrobasket Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Brea appeared in five games, averaging 9.2 points, 4.6 boards and 2.8 assists in 26.8 minutes per outing.

That propelled him into his junior high school season.

By then, he had moved up to the varsity.

His debut game with the varsity was against highly touted New York power Archbishop Stepinac, Brea announced his arrival on the national stage. Facing off against Archbishop Stepinac’s pair of McDonald’s All-Americans, R.J. Davis (now at North Carolina) and AJ Griffin (who went to Duke), Brea put on a show. He poured in 21 points in an 81-69 loss to its nationally ranked foe.

“That’s when everybody knew, like, ‘Yeah, this kid could really be different,’” Chris Florentino, Monsignor Scanlan’s JV boys basketball coach, told The Courier Journal.

Coaching hoops isn’t Florentino’s only job at the school, though. He’s also Monsignor Scanlan’s director of admissions and assisted Brea with his transfer into the school. It was a seamless transition.

“He was a quiet, mild-mannered kid,” Florentino said of Brea, who graduated in 2020. “Super pleasant to be around. People person. He was one of those guys everybody loved, to be honest. He wasn’t like a Hollywood-type of guy. He was humble. And I think that came from his family. … It was good to have him around.”

It’s the same thing UK and its fans have said since the 6-foot-7, 215-pound guard joined the program during the offseason.

Brea was the nation’s top 3-point shooter last season, sinking nearly half (100 for 201; 49.8%) of his long-range attempts for Dayton. But after four years with the Flyers, he entered the transfer portal. That set off a spirited recruitment that involved some of the country’s most storied programs. He wound up picking UK over a quartet of other blue bloods: Duke, Kansas, North Carolina and UConn.

His torrid shooting from distance hasn’t slowed down this season. Through the first four games of the Wildcats’ 2024-25 campaign, Brea had made a scorching 78.9% (15 for 19) of his 3-point attempts. Though he’s cooled off slightly, he’s still within striking distance of topping the national chart for the second time in as many seasons.

He shrugs off the title of “college basketball’s best 3-point shooter,” however, a callback to Florentino’s mention of his former pupil’s humility.

“I’m always focused on what I have to do as a player for my team to succeed, what we have to do as a team,” Brea said. “And I’m always just looking to win. And within that, I play my best. People free me up, and we all love playing with each other. So I know that any time I’m open, those guys are confident, and they trust in me a lot — and they’re willing to pass it. And as a shooter, that’s all you want: You want to have the confidence and trust of your teammates.”

They not only have faith in him. They’re in awe.

“Koby is one of a kind, man,” fifth-year senior forward Andrew Carr said. “It’s really special.”

Carr, a gifted shooter himself, wasn’t sure how Brea does it.

“I think it’s got to be a little bit of God-given touch and talent. He works super, super hard. We see that and just the way the ball comes off his hand. He thinks it’s going in; we all think it’s going in every single time.”

For all the praise he receives — and rightly so — for his shooting touch, Brea isn’t satisfied. He’s striving for more ways to frustrate foes. Even if those areas hadn’t been his calling card during the four-season run with the Flyers.

“Outside of his 3-point shooting, his statistical profile? He doesn’t really do much else,” Evan Miyakawa, a basketball statistician who runs the analytics website EvanMiya.com, told The Courier Journal last summer. “He doesn’t really rebound the ball much. He doesn’t really provide for teammates much. He was a middling defender, at best, for Dayton last year. So his value is 3-point shooting. That’s what it is. But there’s not a lot outside of that, and because of that, that’s why I don’t have him ranked as highly as some of UK’s other transfers.”

Brea is well aware of the criticism.

“That was something that I focused on a lot this summer: just U evolving from a shooter to an all-around player,” he said. “I continue to be labeled as ‘a shooter,’ and I want to be more than that, you know?”

That label — that he’s “just a shooter” — is bothersome to Brea.

“I know that there’s a lot more to my game,” he said, “but obviously that’s what I do best, so I understand why they might feel that way. But at the end of the day as a player, you just want to keep evolving and keep growing. I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job of that — and thanks to the coaches for that.

“It never stops. You’ve just got to keep going.”

Florentino has no doubt Brea will do just that. And Florentino can’t wait for Saturday, when Brea will be back in the Big Apple with the Wildcats. That day, UK takes on Ohio State at Madison Square Garden, part of this year’s edition of the CBS Sports Classic.

When Brea was in town with Dayton for previous matchups versus Fordham, all of Monsignor Scanlan’s teams — varsity and varsity B, JV and freshman — were on hand to support him.

He’ll have a sizable cheering section at “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” too.

“Being that he’s from Manhattan, he’s gonna have the Dominican crew in there waiting on his arrival,” Florentino said. “So I know he’s definitely gonna look to put on a show.”

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.