The Kentucky Wildcats are set to face the Tennessee Volunteers. Check out our college basketball odds series, which includes our Kentucky Tennessee prediction, odds, and pick.
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Kentucky enters this game playing for a big prize beyond the SEC Tournament championship. Kentucky certainly wants to make the SEC Tournament final on Sunday, in pursuit of yet another trophy at an event it has owned throughout SEC basketball history. However, the specific reward John Calipari’s team is pursuing is a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. With Auburn losing to Texas A&M in the SEC quarterfinals on Friday, and with Baylor losing early in the Big 12 Tournament, Kentucky can impress college basketball odds analysts by turning back a Tennessee team which is expected to get a No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. A high-quality win over the Vols should lift Kentucky to the No. 1 seed line, especially since Kentucky crushed fellow No. 1 seed contender Kansas on the road in late January.
The SEC Tournament odds do favor Kentucky. The Wildcats have won the SEC Tournament 31 times. No other SEC school has won it more than seven times. Alabama is the only other school to win the event more than four times. Kentucky expects to win this tournament, and Wildcat fans regularly fill the arena wherever the SEC Tournament is played. This year, it’s Tampa. When thinking about a Kentucky Tennessee prediction, simply realize how often Kentucky wins SEC Tournaments, and how rarely Tennessee does. The Vols haven’t won this event since 1979. When Kentucky and Tennessee meet in the SEC Tournament, Big Blue regularly comes out on top.
Tennessee won’t back down from Kentucky, however. The Vols split the season series with Kentucky, striking back against the Wildcats at home after Kentucky humiliated UT in Rupp Arena earlier in the season. Tennessee’s commitment to rugged, tenacious defense was able to contain Kentucky’s halfcourt offense in the game the Volunteers won. Tennessee can struggle to hit perimeter shots, but when those 3-pointers are falling, the Vols are an extremely tough team to beat. They don’t need elite offense to win, but when they are merely above-average at that end of the floor, their margin for error is high. Opponents face an uphill battle.
UK, for anyone interested in formulating a Kentucky Tennessee pick, is led by Oscar Tshiebwe, a leading contender for 2022 National Player of the Year in college basketball. Tshiebwe is averaging 17 points and 15 rebounds. He has been a beast for Calipari and Big Blue. Tennessee is not going to stop him. The Vols need to make sure Kentucky’s guards and wing shooters don’t get into a rhythm, because that’s when the Wildcats are close to unstoppable.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Kentucky-Tennessee odds:
SEC Tournament Odds: Kentucky-Tennessee Odds
Kentucky: -2.5 (-110)
Tennessee: +2.5 (-110)
Over: 138.5 (-110)
Under: 138.5 (-110)
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Why Kentucky Could Cover the Spread
The Wildcats simply don’t lose these kinds of games very often. Kentucky’s ownership of the SEC Tournament is well-documented, and Tennessee’s lack of success in this tournament is equally well-known.
Why Tennessee Could Cover the Spread
The Vols play defense well enough to keep Kentucky under wraps. They’re also getting two and a half points in a game which figures to go down to the wire. They can easily cover.
Final Kentucky-Tennessee Prediction & Pick
Death. Taxes. Kentucky beating Tennessee in the SEC Tournament. UK has the benefit of the doubt here, UT does not.
Final Kentucky-Tennessee Pick: Kentucky -2.5
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