I'm going with the revenge angle in this all-Tennessee matchup. The Commodores beat the Volunteers in Knoxville last Saturday, avenging a Tennessee win on Vanderbilt's home floor in February. I picked against Rick Barnes' team on Thursday as I thought they were fading as the season went along. Auburn proved me smart for 30 minutes before Tennessee ran off a 19-0 run and never looked back. I predict a close game in Nashville on Friday, but I lean the team in orange by three points.
While Tennessee has trended to the under recently (4-1 in their last five), this could be an opponent that speeds them up and allows for some more offensive success than what the Vols had at the start of their comeback win against Auburn. It took awhile for star freshman Nate Ament to heat up in his return to the lineup for Tennessee, but eventually he wore down the Tigers’ defense to finish with a team-high 27 points. These two teams played less than a week ago and it was an 86-82 game played at Vanderbilt’s pace, so anything under 150 seems like a fair play.
