Louisville Cardinals vs Tennessee Volunteers Prediction, 12/16/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Louisville Cardinals vs Tennessee Volunteers

Date: Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Location: Food City Center in Knoxville, TN

TV: ESPN

Food City Center is the location where the Tennessee Volunteers (7-3) will try to defeat the Louisville Cardinals (9-1) on Tuesday.

The Louisville Cardinals stepped onto the hardwood against Memphis and earned the victory with a final of 99-73 in their last contest. In relation to fouls, the Cardinals ended up with 19 and Memphis finished the game with 20 fouls. They made 3 of their 11 tries from beyond the perimeter. Memphis finished the game shooting 70.0% at the free throw line by converting 14 of 20 shots. On top of that, Memphis collected 30 boards (14 offensive, 16 defensive), but didn't have a block. Memphis distributed 8 dimes and had 8 steals for this contest. In terms of defense, Louisville allowed their opponent to shoot 41.2% from the field on 28 of 68 shooting. They also distributed 24 assists for this contest while forcing the other team into 9 turnovers and having 4 steals. When talking about grabbing rebounds, they collected 32 with 8 of them being offensive. From the free throw line, the Cardinals knocked down 21 of their 25 attempts for a percentage of 84.0%. Louisville ended the contest with a 55.6% FG percentage (30 out of 54) and made 18 of 35 3-point shots.

Ryan Conwell is a guy who was a major factor in this game. He left the arena with 17 points on 5 out of 11 shooting. He played 26 minutes played and also pulled down 2 boards. He walked away from this one shooting 45.5% from the field and earned 2 assists.

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Louisville enters this one with a win-loss mark of 9-1 this year. They turn it over 10.9 times per contest and as a group they are committing 19.7 personal fouls every game. As a team, Louisville is grabbing 42.6 rebounds per contest and has 197 dimes so far this year, which has them ranked 35th in college hoops in terms of passing the rock. The Cardinals are shooting 37.5% on 3-pointers (132 of 352) and 77.8% from the free throw line. They currently have an average of 94.3 pts per game (7th in college hoops) while hitting 47.9% from the field.

Defensively, the Cardinals are forcing their opponents into 13.9 turnovers per contest while drawing 19.7 personal fouls. They are 33rd in D-1 in allowing assists to their opponents with 107 surrendered on the season. The Cardinals are giving up a field goal percentage of 37.8% (235 of 622) and they relinquish 34.6 rebounds per game as a unit. They relinquish 29.6% on shots from downtown and they rank 79th in the country in PPG allowed (68.1).

When they last stepped on the court, the Tennessee Volunteers took a defeat with a final score of 75-62 when they played Illinois. When it comes to rebounding, Tennessee permitted Illinois to snag 30 in all (10 offensive). They went 39.3% from beyond the perimeter by connecting on 11 of 28 and walked away from this one shooting 8 out of 14 from the charity stripe (57.1%). The Volunteers allowed Illinois to knock down 28 out of 58 tries from the floor which left them with a shooting percentage of 48.3% in this matchup. At the conclusion of this game, the Volunteers ended up shooting 24 for 65 from the floor which had them sitting at 36.9%. With respect to three-point attempts, Tennessee made 6 out of 20 tries (30.0%). They were able to make 8 of the free throw tries for a rate of 44.4%. Illinois had 14 personal fouls for the matchup which got the Volunteers to the charity stripe for a total of 18 tries. They turned it over 12 times, while earning 4 steals for the matchup. The Volunteers were able to collect 22 defensive rebounds and 22 offensive rebounds for a total of 44 for the game.

Ja'Kobi Gillespie ended up being a major contributor for the Volunteers for the game. He buried 6 out of 20 in this contest for a field goal percentage of 30.0%, and had 5 rebounds. He scored 15 points in his 35 minutes on the hardwood and accounted for 5 assists in this contest.

Tennessee has a record of 7-3 this year. When it comes to offensive execution, the Volunteers are hitting on 46.8% from the floor, which has them ranked 126th in the country. Tennessee has scored 809 pts so far this season (80.9 per contest) and they pull in 43.3 rebounds per game. They are getting an assist 18.8 times per game (23rd in Division 1) and they turn the ball over 13.2 times per contest. The Volunteers are committing 17.7 personal fouls every game and they go 72.7% from the charity stripe.

The Volunteers defensively are ranked 36th in college in PPG allowed with 66.0. They are able to force 12.4 TO's per game and allow teams to shoot 38.5% from the field (24th in college). The Tennessee defense surrenders 29.7% on 3-pointers (76 of 256) and their opponents are connecting on 68.0% of their free throw attempts. They surrender 10.5 assists and 30.4 boards per contest, which has them ranked 32nd and 26th in the country.

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

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Louisville

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