Vanderbilt Commodores vs Tennessee Volunteers Prediction, 1/16/2021 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Vanderbilt Commodores vs Tennessee Volunteers

Date: Saturday, January 16, 2021

Location: Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, TN

TV: SECN

Odds/Point Spread: Vanderbilt (+17)

The Tennessee Volunteers (9-1) host the Vanderbilt Commodores (4-5) at Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday. Tennessee opens this matchup as 17-point favorites. The O/U opens at 135.

Vanderbilt will enter this contest with a win-loss record of 4-5 for the year. The Commodores are shooting 35.3% on 3-pointers (90 of 255) and 75.8% from the free throw line. They are averaging 74.0 points per game (143rd in the country) while connecting on 42.9% from the field. They are turning it over 13.1 times per game and as a team they commit 17.3 personal fouls on a nightly basis. As a team, Vanderbilt is pulling in 37.0 rebounds per game and has accumulated 130 assists for the campaign, which ranks 206th in D-1 in terms of passing the rock. On the defensive end of the court, the Commodores are able to force 12.7 turnovers per contest while drawing 17.2 personal fouls. They currently rank 86th in the nation in allowing assists to their opponents with 102 surrendered on the year. The Commodores defense is allowing an opponent shooting percentage of 45.5% (231 of 508) and they surrender 33.4 rebounds per game as a group. They are giving up 32.4% on shots from distance and they are 193rd in college hoops in points per game from their opponents (70.7).

The Vanderbilt Commodores stepped onto the hardwood against the Mississippi State Bulldogs and took a loss by a final of 84-81 in their last contest. Vanderbilt walked away from the contest having earned a 41.7% FG percentage (25 out of 60) and converted 15 of their 33 3-point attempts. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Commodores knocked down 16 of their 21 shots for a percentage of 76.2%. With regard to rebounding, they collected a total of 30 with 9 of them being offensive. They also recorded 19 assists in the game while earning 4 steals and 2 blocked shots. When talking about defense, Vanderbilt allowed 41.7% from the field on 25 out of 60 shooting. Mississippi State earned 9 dimes and had 5 steals for the game. In addition, the Bulldogs grabbed 34 rebounds (5 offensive, 29 defensive) and earned 2 blocks. Mississippi State finished the game shooting 64.3% at the free throw line by making 18 of 28 attempts. They made 4 out of their 7 attempts from distance.

Scotty Pippen Jr. is a guy who was a major factor in the matchup. He scored 18 points on 4 out of 11 shooting. He saw the court for 35 mins played and pulled down 2 boards. Jr. finished the game at 36.4% from the field and totaled 12 dimes. One more player that was a major factor in this matchup for the Commodores was Trey Thomas. He pulled down 2 boards and accumulated 3 dimes. He finished 54.5% from the field in this matchup by connecting on 6-of-11 (17 points). When the final whistle blew, Thomas saw the court for 21 minutes.

Tennessee has a record of 9-1 on the season. Tennessee has accounted for 768 pts on the year (76.8 per contest) and they pull in 37.7 boards per contest. The Volunteers are committing 15.4 personal fouls per contest and they connect on 74.6% from the charity stripe. On the offensive side of the court, the Volunteers are shooting 46.5% from the field, which ranks them 97th in the nation. Their rate of earning assists is at 15.7 times per contest (64th in college basketball) and they are giving up possession 10.0 times per game. The Volunteers on defense are ranked 3rd in D-1 in points per game surrendered with 56.8. They are forcing 17.4 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 38.4% from the floor (19th in D-1). The Tennessee defense gives up 31.2% on 3-point shots (68 of 218) and their opposition knocks down 67.1% of their free throw shots. They give up 9.4 assists and 31.4 boards on a nightly basis, which ranks them 14th and 48th in those defensive categories.

When they last stepped on the court, the Tennessee Volunteers walked away with a victory by a final of 68-54 when they played the Texas A&M Aggies. The Volunteers collected 20 defensive rebounds and 3 offensive rebounds for a total of 23 in this game. They also stuffed 5 shots while getting 6 steals for the contest. The Aggies had 19 personal fouls in this matchup which took the Volunteers to the free throw line for a total of 9 attempts. They were able to make 6 of them for a percentage of 66.7%. In reference to shots from 3-point land, Tennessee knocked down 8 of their 21 attempts (38.1%). When the final whistle was blown, the Volunteers finished shooting 27 out of 46 from the floor which had them shooting 58.7%. The Volunteers permitted the Aggies to make 16 of their 47 tries from the field which had them at 34.0% in the matchup. They finished the game shooting 34.8% from distance by shooting 8 out of 23 and ended up shooting 14 out of 18 from the free throw line (77.8%). With respect to team rebounding, Tennessee allowed Texas A&M to snag 25 in all (9 offensive).

Santiago Vescovi ended up being a factor for the Volunteers in the matchup. He made 8 of 13 in this game for a field goal percentage of 61.5%, which got him 23 points. Vescovi collected 5 rebounds in his 36 minutes and accounted for 3 dimes for the contest. One more player that ended being a contributor for Tennessee was John Fulkerson. He ended up finishing with 11 points in his 30 minutes on the court via 4 out of 7 shooting for this game. Fulkerson finished going 57.1% from the floor in addition to totaling 2 assists and 5 boards.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Tennessee (-17)

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