It’s all set.
It’s all set, and it’s exactly what the NCAA Tournament and the TV partners wanted — Rick Barnes vs. Texas. The Volunteers crushed 15-seed Saint Peter’s on Thursday night in Charlotte, while Texas handled Colorado State to advance.
It was a 56-44 win for Rodney Terry and the Longhorns, which sets the stage for another matchup between Texas and their old head coach, Rick Barnes. Texas fired Barnes following the 2014-15 season, after multiple early exits in the NCAA Tournament. Those results have followed Barnes to Tennessee — a narrative he would like to begin to shed over the next couple of weeks.
Texas finished 7th in the Big 12, bringing a 21-12 overall record to the table entering Saturday. The Longhorns went 9-9 in Big 12 play, bowing out early in the Big 12 Tournament to Kansas State.
Tennessee is favored by 6.5 points over Texas on Saturday, per DraftKings Sportsbook.
“Well, I’ve got great respect for my time at the University of Texas, and I’ve got dear friends that they’ll be friends until the day I die,” Barnes said of the matchup. “Like I said, great relationships with much of that staff, but I’ve been gone nine years, and I’m a Tennessee Volunteer. The time I had there was special because a lot of — really there’s a lot of people there that touched my life, and we’ve had a lot of people that have led that program and done extremely well.
“But I thank the good Lord for — coming to Tennessee was a blessing. Maybe I didn’t know it at the time. But I couldn’t have asked for a better way to be in a position where my career will end.”
KenPom ranks Tennessee 7th overall in their efficiency metric, while Texas checks in at No. 25. KenPom projects a five-point win for the Volunteers.
Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET on Saturday night in Charlotte. CBS will have the coverage.
Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See DraftKings.com/sportsbook for details.