Kentucky Wildcats vs Tennessee Volunteers Prediction, 1/28/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Kentucky Wildcats vs Tennessee Volunteers

Date: Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Location: Food City Center in Knoxville, TN

TV: ESPN+

Food City Center is the location where the Tennessee Volunteers (17-3) will go up against the Kentucky Wildcats (14-5) on Tuesday.

The Kentucky Wildcats faced Vanderbilt and walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 74-69 in their last game. When it comes to personal fouls, the Wildcats ended up with 10 and Vanderbilt recorded 9 personal fouls. They also converted 12 out of their 33 attempts from beyond the arc. Vanderbilt finished shooting 36.4% from the charity stripe by making 4 of 11 tries. On top of that, Vanderbilt collected 27 rebounds (7 offensive, 20 defensive), but wasn't able to record a block. Vanderbilt dished out 21 dimes and had 10 steals for the contest. Pertaining to defending, Kentucky allowed their opponent to shoot 43.9% from the field on 29 of 66 shooting. They also doled out 11 assists for the matchup in addition to forcing 5 turnovers and having 4 steals. Regarding grabbing rebounds, they compiled 40 with 10 of them being on the offensive end. From the free throw line, the Wildcats buried 8 of their 13 shots for a percentage of 61.5%. Kentucky walked away from the contest having earned a 48.1% field goal percentage (26 out of 54) and knocked down 9 out of their 23 three-point shots.

Otega Oweh is a guy who was a major contributor for the contest. He ended up shooting 57.1% from the floor and also earned 3 dimes. He played 33 minutes and also snagged 12 boards. He ended up with 21 points on 8 of 14 shooting.

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Kentucky enters this matchup with a win-loss record of 14-5 on the campaign. They are losing possession via turnover 10.4 times per contest and as a squad are committing 17.4 fouls every game. As a unit, Kentucky is collecting 40.8 rebounds per game and is sitting with 347 assists for the year, which ranks 24th in the nation in terms of passing. The Wildcats are shooting 36.9% on three-point shots (192 of 521) and 73.8% from the free throw line. They are averaging 88.1 pts per contest (3rd in college hoops) while hitting 48.4% from the floor.

On defense, the Wildcats are forcing 10.6 turnovers per game and they draw 17.4 fouls. They are relinquishing 29.2% on three-point shots while they are 298th in the country in points per game from their opponents (76.0). The Wildcats are giving up an opponent FG percentage of 41.9% (512 of 1,222) and they surrender 35.9 rebounds per contest as a group. They rank 78th in D-1 in allowing assists to their opponents with 237 relinquished for the season.

When they last played, the Tennessee Volunteers took a loss by a final score of 53-51 when they played Auburn. Regarding how they attacked the glass, Tennessee permitted Auburn to snag 38 in all (15 offensive). They went 15.0% from distance by shooting 3 out of 20 and ended up going 14 of 19 at the free throw line (73.7%). The Volunteers allowed Auburn to bury 18 out of 59 attempts from the field which left them with a shooting percentage of 30.5% in the matchup. When the final whistle blew, the Volunteers finished the game shooting 17 out of 54 from the field which had them at 31.5%. When discussing 3-point attempts, Tennessee knocked down 4 of 22 attempts (18.2%). They were able to make 13 of the free throw attempts for a clip of 81.3%. Auburn committed 16 fouls in this contest which took the Volunteers to the free throw line for 16 shots. They also coughed up the ball 10 times, while recording 7 steals for the game. The Volunteers corralled 23 defensive boards and 8 offensive boards totaling 31 for the contest.

Zakai Zeigler ended up being a major contributor for the Volunteers for the contest. He made 4 out of 15 for the contest giving him a field goal percentage of 26.7%, and had 6 rebounds. He had 14 points in his 39 mins of playing time and totaled 5 dimes in the matchup.

Tennessee has a win-loss mark of 17-3 for the campaign. On the offensive side of the court, the Volunteers are hitting on 45.2% from the floor, which is 161st in college. Tennessee has accounted for 1,502 pts so far this season (75.1 per game) and they pull in 38.4 rebounds per game. Their rate of assisting teammates is at 15.8 times per game (72nd in college) and they are turning it over 11.2 times per game. The Volunteers have committed 14.4 personal fouls per game and they connect on 76.0% from the charity stripe.

The Tennessee defense gives up 25.4% on 3-point attempts (132 of 519) and their opponents are making 73.0% of their free throw shots. They have surrendered 9.1 assists and 31.3 rebounds on a nightly basis, which ranks them 4th and 31st in those categories on the defensive end. The Volunteers are ranked 3rd in D-1 in PPG allowed with 58.4. They have forced 13.5 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 36.0% from the field (2nd in Division 1).

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Tennessee

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