Mizzou Tigers men’s basketball vs. No. 17 Tennessee: Prediction, time, TV, lineups
The details
When: 6 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Mizzou Arena, Columbia, Missouri
TV: SEC Network
Radio: KMBZ (98.1 FM)
Betting line: Tennessee by 10
About No. 17 Tennessee (19-7, 10-4 SEC): The Volunteers were on a five-game win streak, which included knocking off then-No. 4 Kentucky, prior to suffering a 58-48 defeat at then-No. 23 Arkansas last Saturday. Hours before that loss, Tennessee was included in the NCAA Tournament selection committee’s first early reveal of the top 16 men’s seeds, coming in at 11 overall (3 seed). The Volunteers are led by star freshman Kennedy Chandler, who averages 13.2 points, 4.8 assists 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game. KenPom ranks Tennessee No. 12.
About Missouri (10-17, 4-10 SEC): The Tigers have lost eight of their last 10 games, including the last three in a row. They just suffered consecutive defeats to Mississippi State in a span of less than 48 hours. The first result was a 68-49 blowout on the road and the second, on Sunday, ended in a 58-56 defeat after Mizzou failed to defend or score in the final minutes. The Tigers had begun to show improvement on offense in recent weeks, but they’ve fallen back into shooting woes and made less than 41% of their shot attempts in three consecutive games. KenPom ranks Missouri No. 140.
Projected lineups
P | No. | Tennessee | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
G | 1 | Kennedy Chandler | 6-0 | Fr. | 13.2 |
G | 25 | Santiago Vescovi | 6-3 | Jr. | 13.5 |
G | 30 | Josiah-Jordan James | 6-6 | Jr. | 8.8 |
F | 2 | Brandon Huntley-Hatfield | 6-10 | Fr. | 3.2 |
F | 33 | Uros Plavsic | 7-0 | Jr. | 4.0 |
P | No. | Missouri | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
G | 5 | Jarron Coleman | 6-5 | R-Jr. | 9.4 |
G | 4 | Javon Pickett | 6-5 | Sr. | 10.3 |
F | 12 | DaJuan Gordon | 6-3 | Jr. | 8.4 |
F | 23 | Trevon Brazile | 6-9 | Fr. | 5.7 |
F | 24 | Kobe Brown | 6-8 | Jr. | 12.4 |
Prediction
Missouri’s matchup against No. 17 Tennessee on Tuesday night will be its third game in five days. That stretch has included travel issues on the road as well, so you have to figure that fatigue will play a factor in this one.
Even if wear and tear wasn’t in play, the simple reality is that the Volunteers are a significantly better team than the Tigers. Tennessee doesn’t have a single non-Quad 1 loss, so it isn’t likely to play down to the competition either.
Head coach Rick Barnes’ squad should cause a lackluster Missouri offense plenty of trouble. Tennessee ranks fourth in the country in defensive efficiency (87.5), per KenPom, eighth in steals per game (9.7) and eighth in turnover margin (+4.4). This makes for quite the unfavorable scenario for the Tigers, who already struggle tremendously to take care of the ball.
KenPom gives Missouri a 16% chance to win while the ESPN BPI has the odds at 7.4%.
Tennessee 78, Missouri 54
