A big one today.
Tennessee stays home today, set to host Alabama today at Food City Center. The Volunteers are coming off of a blowout win over Florida on Tuesday, a game that saw Dalton Knecht go nuts yet again, scoring 39 points in the 85-66 win.
Knecht has back to back 30 point games, the first Tennessee player to do so since Chris Lofton back in 2006.
Alabama (12-5, 4-0) will try and slow him down today. You know what you’re getting from Nate Oats at ‘Bama — offense, and a lot of it.
“They’re the No. 1 offensive team in the country,” Rick Barnes said of Alabama. “And Mark Sears is, boy, he’s playing great basketball. They’ve got a lot of really good shooters around him. And the thing that has impressed me is I think they’ve gotten so much better, like most teams normally do. Their defense, very efficient for that too. But the way they play, it’s, as you know, Nate’s always done a great job with his team, putting him in the right spots to be effective and be efficient. And he’s done it with this team.”
Sears, a senior guard, is averaging over 19 points per game while shooting 47 percent from three-point range.
Alabama is KenPom’s seventh ranked team while Tennessee is ranked sixth. As it has been the past few years, it’s the best offense in the country against a top five defense in the country. KenPom predicts a Tennessee win by three points.
Per DraftKings Sportsbook, Tennessee is a 5.5 point favorite.
How to watch Tennessee vs. Alabama basketball
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Time: 2 p.m. ET
TV Channel: ESPN2
Streaming: Watch ESPN, ESPN App