NCAA Basketball Betting – Tigers, Vols Resume State Rivalry
Before Sports Gambling fans turn their attention to other sports betting events this week, we have a Wednesday NCAA game of the day pick for you. It’s time for our weekly basketball picks for online ncaa hoops betting action.
Odds: Tennessee -7
Total: 144.5
College football betting players have a slow week after Monday’s Orange Bowl, so they should get in on some hoops betting action on Wednesday, and they will get a rivalry matchup to boot as Memphis heads to Tennessee for a showdown.
Memphis Tennessee Betting – Wednesday, 9:00 PM ET
The Tigers (11-2), who were ranked 22nd as of Monday, were given all they could handle and more from Tennessee State in a 91-86 win at home on Sunday. They got a huge contribution from their bench as Antonio Barton dropped 24 points, while Talik Black added 22 points off the pine for the Tigers, who shot 53.2% from the field. The Tigers may have been caught looking ahead to the Volunteers, and they’re going to need much better defensive plays to stop any scores by Tennessee. Tennessee State shot 50% from the floor and hit 12 of their 24 three-point attempts, so that is something that Memphis is definitely going to work on before heading to Knoxville.
The Volunteers (9-4) have lost four of their last six after they were upset 91-78 at home by the College of Charleston…yes, the College of Charleston, who joins Oakland and Charlotte as the smaller schools who have claimed Tennessee’s scalp.
Scotty Hopson scored 24 points, but he was only 2-of-9 from beyond the arc, and Tobias Harris was the only other Tennessee player in double digits with 16 points for the Volunteers, who may have also been looking ahead to Memphis. Tennessee was terrible defensively, allowing Charleston to shoot 57.1% from the field, but that wasn’t their only problem: the Volunteers destroyed Charleston 24-6 on the offensive glass, but shot 37.5% from the floor.
Your online bookie service may have Tennessee favored at home, but that’s only a possibility, and if they are it won’t be by much as they’re now 6-3 in Knoxville.
The Volunteers are 7-3 SU and 6-4 ATS in their last 10 meetings with Memphis, who don’t get the attention they once did when John Calipari was at the helm, but the Tigers are still a good team and can’t be taken lightly. The problem is, Tennessee won’t take them lightly as it’s a state rivalry, the Volunteers have looked awful lately, and they’ll want to get a win for coach Bruce Pearl, who was ejected in the Charleston loss, and he’ll be making his last appearance on the bench until February 8th due to an eight-game suspension in the SEC.
Also, the Volunteers seem to be playing to the level of their competition: they’ve already beaten Pitt and Villanova, a pair of top-10 schools from the Big East. The Volunteers are generally pretty strong when non-conference foes come to Nashville, and they’ll be up for this one.
Go with Tennessee in your sports betting picks.
Go back to school and be a player – at Bodog.
Poolside Rants hails from beautiful Bozeman Montana by way of Toronto, Canada. (Blame his wife for the move). He’s a Dallas Cowboys football honk. But please….don’t hold that against him. The man knows his sports and has uncanny knowledge when it comes to picking games.
