MTSU Blue Raiders vs Tennessee Volunteers Prediction, 12/23/2024 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: MTSU Blue Raiders vs Tennessee Volunteers

Date: Monday, December 23, 2024

Location: Food City Center in Knoxville, TN

TV: ESPN+

Food City Center is where the Tennessee Volunteers (11-0) will meet the MTSU Blue Raiders (9-3) on Monday.

The MTSU Blue Raiders took the court against Lipscomb and walked away with a win by a score of 67-65 in their last game. When it comes to personal fouls, the Blue Raiders finished with 17 and Lipscomb accumulated 17 personal fouls. They knocked down 4 of their 18 attempts from distance. Lipscomb finished the contest at 76.5% when shooting free throws by knocking down 13 of 17 attempts. Furthermore, Lipscomb snagged 28 boards (3 offensive, 25 defensive), but didn't notch a rejection. Lipscomb totaled 12 assists and had 6 steals in the matchup. When talking about the defense, MTSU allowed 46.2% from the field on 24 out of 52 shooting. They also recorded 8 assists in this contest in addition to forcing the opposition into 8 turnovers and having 5 steals. In relation to getting rebounds, they collected a total of 45 with 18 of them being of the offensive variety. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Blue Raiders buried 13 of 22 shots for a rate of 59.1%. MTSU finished the game with a 38.1% field goal percentage (24 out of 63) and knocked down 6 out of their 21 3-point attempts.

Jestin Porter is one guy who came through in this matchup. He ended up with 14 points on 4 of 14 shooting. He saw the court for 35 minutes and pulled down 8 boards. He finished shooting 28.6% from the floor and dished out 1 assist.

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MTSU enters this game with a mark of 9-3 this year. They are averaging 80.8 points per contest (75th in Division 1) while going 46.6% from the field. The Blue Raiders are shooting 31.6% on 3-point shots (83 of 263) and 68.8% from the charity stripe. As a unit, MTSU is snagging 41.2 boards per game and has earned 147 dimes on the year, which is 246th in college in terms of passing the rock. They turn it over 11.3 times per game and as a squad they are committing 18.8 fouls every game.

When they are on defense, the Blue Raiders are forcing 12.0 turnovers on a nightly basis and they draw 17.3 fouls. They are 180th in college in giving up assists to their opponents with 145 conceded so far this season. The Blue Raiders defense is allowing a field goal percentage of 40.9% (291 of 712) and they concede 34.2 rebounds per game as a unit. They relinquish 24.4% on three-point shots and they are ranked 153rd in D-1 in points per game allowed (70.2).

In their last game, the Tennessee Volunteers took home the win by a final score of 84-36 when they faced Western Carolina. When it comes to team rebounding, Tennessee permitted Western Carolina to get 35 in total (13 on the offensive side). They wrapped up this game 15.4% from behind the 3-point line by going 6 of 39 and finished the contest at 2 of 4 from the free throw line (50.0%). The Volunteers allowed Western Carolina to make 14 of 64 attempts from the field which had them sitting at 21.9% in this contest. When the final whistle blew, the Volunteers ended up going 32 out of 69 from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 46.4%. In terms of shooting from beyond the arc, Tennessee buried 8 of 27 attempts (29.6%). They were able to make 12 of those for a percentage of 85.7%. Western Carolina earned 14 fouls for the game which took the Volunteers to the free throw line for a total of 14 shots. They coughed up the ball 10 times, while earning 17 steals for the matchup. The Volunteers pulled down 32 defensive rebounds and 13 offensive boards for a total of 45 in this contest.

Chaz Lanier pitched in for the Volunteers for this game. He scored 19 points in his 30 minutes on the court and accumulated 4 dimes for this game. He converted 8 of 19 for the game for a field goal percentage of 42.1%, and accounted for 7 rebounds.

Tennessee has a record of 11-0 so far this year. As an offensive unit, the Volunteers are shooting 49.5% from the field, which ranks 35th in college. Tennessee has totaled 892 points this season (81.1 per game) and they average 39.5 rebounds per game. They are getting an assist 16.8 times per game (46th in college) and they lose possession via turnover 11.2 times per contest. The Volunteers are committing 14.5 personal fouls per game and they shoot 74.5% from the free throw line.

The Volunteers defensively are ranked 2nd in college hoops in points given up per game with 55.9. They are able to force 14.6 TO's per game and allow teams to shoot 33.9% from the floor (1st in D-1). The Tennessee defense allows 24.4% from downtown (75 of 307) and their opposition knocks down 74.5% of their free throw attempts. They have surrendered 9.0 assists and 29.1 total rebounds per game, which is ranked 7th and 7th in college.

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take MTSU

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