Tennessee coach Rick Barnes will face his former team this weekend when the Tennessee Volunteers square off against the Texas Longhorns in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Saturday in Charlotte. Barnes, now 69, spent 17 seasons as coach of the Longhorns from 1998-2015 and remains the winningest coach in the history of the program. On Saturday he will match wits against Longhorns coach Rodney Terry, who served as an assistant coach under Barnes for nine seasons (2002-11).

Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET. The Volunteers are favored by 6.5 points in the latest Tennessee vs. Texas odds, while the over/under for total points scored is 145.

Before making any Texas vs. Tennessee picks or NCAA Tournament predictions, you need to check out the college basketball predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model. (See up-to-date odds for every game this week on our college basketball odds page.)

The model simulates every Div. I college basketball game 10,000 times. It enters the 2024 NCAA tournament on a 148-106 roll on all top-rated college basketball picks dating back to last season, returning more than $1,700 for $100 players. It also has a strong 29-19 (+810) record on top-rated spread picks this season. Anyone following it has seen huge returns.

The model knows that Tennessee has one of the best players in the country in Dalton Knecht. A 6-foot-6 guard from Thornton, Colo., who transferred in the offseason from Northern Colorado, Knecht is averaging 21.2 points a game while shooting 46.7% from the field and 40.1% from beyond the 3-point arc. For his efforts this season, he was named the SEC Player of the Year and a consensus all-American.

But the model also has taken into account that Texas has one of the most prolific scorers in the history of college basketball in Max Abmas. A fifth-year guard who transferred from Oral Roberts, Abmas has scored 3,122 career points, which ranks eighth all-time. This season Abmas leads the Longhorns in scoring (17.0 points per game) while shooting 36.3% on 3-pointers and 89.8% from the free throw line.

For Saturday, the model has set its sights on the 2024 NCAA Tournament and Tennessee vs. Texas. We can tell you the model is leaning Over on the point total, and it also says one side of the spread hits in almost 60% of simulations. You ABSOLUTELY need to see the model before locking in any college basketball picks.

Who wins Texas vs. Tennessee? And which side of the spread covers almost 60% of the time? ... Join SportsLine right now to find out which side of the Tennessee vs. Texas spread you should be all over Saturday, all from the model on a 148-106 roll on college basketball picks!