No. 6 Tennessee is back on the road for the third time in four games, this time going to Vanderbilt Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time tipoff on SEC Network at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville.
The Vols (16-1, 3-1 SEC) are coming off a 74-56 win over No. 23 Georgia on Wednesday at Food City Center in Knoxville following two road games last week, a loss at Florida and a win at Texas.
Vanderbilt (14-3, 2-2) won 13 of its first 14 games under first-year Vandy coach Mark Byington, but lost back-to-back games last week, at home against Mississippi State and at Missouri. The Commodores bounced back with a 66-63 home win over South Carolina on Wednesday.
Start Time: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time
TV: SEC Network
Streaming: ESPN App or WatchESPN.com
Radio: WNML-FM 99.1 in Knoxville. The Vol Network radio broadcast can be heard on local affiliates across the state of Tennessee.
KenPom Prediction: Tennessee 74, Vanderbilt 67 (74% chance to win)
The FanDuel Line: Tennessee -7.5
Vanderbilt hired Mark Byington away from James Madison, where he won 132 games over the last four seasons and took the Dukes to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season.
Byington remade the Vandy roster in the NCAA Transfer Portal and started the season with six straight wins before a neutral-site loss to Drake on November 24. The Comoodores then won seven straight, capped with a road win to start SEC play at LSU, before losing to Mississippi State and Missouri last week.
Vanderbilt is ranked No. 42 in the NET and No. 54 overall in the KenPom ratings. Vandy is No. 63 in adjusted defensive efficiency, giving up 99.9 points per 100 possessions, and No. 51 in adjusted offensive efficiency, scoring 114.8 points per 100 possessions.
KenPom.com has Tennessee at No. 5 overall, ranked No. 4 in adjusted defensive efficiency, giving up 88.2 points per 100 possessions, and No. 24 on offense, scoring 118.1 points per 100 possessions.
Joe Lunardi on Thursday had Tennessee as the fourth of the four No. 1 seeds in his Bracketology update, with the Vols as the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament’s West Region.
Tennessee is No. 4 in the NET Ranking, the metric the NCAA Tournament selection committee uses to compile and seed the field. The Vols have a 5-1 Quad 1 record and are 1-0 in Quad 2, 3-0 in Quad 3 and 7-0 in Quad 4.
Lunardi’s projected NCAA Tournament bracket on Friday morning had 12 SEC teams in the 68-team field. Tennessee was the No. 1 seed in the West Region, matched up against No. 16 Omaha at Rupp Arena in Lexington, opposite of No. 8 Clemson and No. 9 UCLA.
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