Tennessee basketball opened as 12.5-point favorites over Missouri ahead of Tuesday night’s conference battle in Columbia according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The over/under is set at 146.5.
The Vols head to Columbia riding a two-game winning streak and facing a Missouri team that’s yet to earn a win in conference play to date. Analytical based college basketball website KenPom projects Tennessee to earn an 80-66 win over Vanderbilt.
| TN Sportsbook | Bonus Offer | Bonus Link |
|---|---|---|
| BetMGM | Bet $5, Get $158 in bonus bets | Claim Bonus — Use Code ROCKYBET |
| FanDuel | Bet $5, Get $150 in Bonus Bets Guaranteed | Claim Bonus |
| Caesars Sportsbook | Get a first bet on Caesars of up to $1,000 | Claim Bonus — Use Code STARTGET |
While Tennessee is heavy favorites and the Tigers have struggled mightily in Dennis Gates’ second season as head coach, the Vols are not taking them lightly. Missouri knocked off Tennessee twice last season, both in Knoxville and in the SEC Tournament in Nashville.
More From RTI: Where Tennessee Basketball Ranks In This Week’s AP Poll
Assistant coach Rod Clark is not letting this Tennessee team forget that fact.
“Talked about it first thing, really before we started,” Clark said on Monday. “So for us, regardless of the record, it doesn’t matter. That’s a program that beat up on us two games last year. So we’re not looking at this as a game that we’re going to just skate by. No, that’s not what it is for us. We got to go down there, we want to take care of business. We want to play really well, we want to play really hard.”
The Vols enter the conference matchup 19-6 (9-3 SEC) and in desperate need to pick up two wins this week to remain in the thick of the SEC Championship race ahead of their gauntlet the final two weeks of the regular season.
Tennessee enters this week in sole possession of second place in the conference and just a game back of first-place Alabama. Rick Barnes’ ninth Tennessee team played fantastic last week, knocking off Arkansas and Vanderbilt by a combined 64 points.
Missouri is in the midst of a terrible season and is 8-17 (0-12 SEC) ahead of Tuesday night’s matchup in Columbia. Tipoff between the Vols and Tigers is at 7 p.m. ET. The SEC Network is broadcasting the game.
