The oddsmakers expect a close one.
The Tennessee Volunteers have made their way down to Texas this weekend, set to face Rick Barnes’ old program in Austin on Saturday night. Tennessee, fresh off of a humiliating 30-point loss to Florida, have to find a way to bounceback on the road tonight to keep pace in the ultra-competitive SEC.
Texas is coming off of a loss at home to Auburn after giving the Tigers a scare late.
The Longhorns are 11-4 on the year, currently in Joe Lunardi’s first four out over at ESPN. Texas is 0-2 in league play after opening up with a loss to Texas A&M. They also hold losses to UConn and Ohio State on the year.
Freshman guard Tre Johnson, a former-five star and top ten overall prospect, leads the way for the Longhorns averaging over 18 points per game. The 6-6 guard is shooting 42 percent from three-point range. 6-7 senior transfer forward Arthur Kaluma ranks second on the team with 15 points per game and leads the team in rebounding by a wide margin.
Tennessee will once again be leaning heavily on the shooting stroke of Chaz Lanier, which didn’t work out in Gainesville. The senior guard was off from the jump, and it never really improved throughout the night. Igor Milicic and Zakai Zeigler couldn’t make up for it as Tennessee put out one of their worst offensive performances of the entire Rick Barnes era.
If you know Barnes, you know the following practice was brutal. Tennessee’s response following that ugly game will be interesting to see tonight.
The oddsmakers do expect a close one. Playing on the road in the SEC won’t be easy no matter who the opponent is this season. Tennessee is a five point favorite over Texas as of this morning, according to multiple sportsbooks.
Tennessee ranks sixth in the updated KenPom metric, while Texas has fallen to 38th.
Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. ET on ESPN tonight in Austin.