Auburn Tigers vs Tennessee Volunteers Prediction, 1/31/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Auburn Tigers vs Tennessee Volunteers

Date: Saturday, January 31, 2026

Location: Food City Center in Knoxville, TN

TV: ESPN

Food City Center is the site where the Tennessee Volunteers (14-6) will try to defeat the Auburn Tigers (14-7) on Saturday.

The Auburn Tigers took the court against Texas and took home the win by a score of 88-82 in their last game. With respect to personal fouls, the Tigers ended up with 20 while Texas recorded 26 personal fouls. They also knocked down 12 out of their 26 attempts from beyond the arc. Texas shot 78.3% at the free throw line by knocking down 18 of their 23 tries. Additionally, Texas pulled down 25 boards (6 offensive, 19 defensive), but couldn't earn a rejection. Texas doled out 10 dimes and had 3 steals for the game. In relation to defense, Auburn allowed the other team to go 52.0% from the field on 26 out of 50 shooting. They also dished out 8 dimes in this matchup while creating 11 turnovers and having 8 steals. When talking about getting rebounds, they compiled 19 with 2 of them being of the offensive sort. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Tigers buried 29 of 39 attempts for a rate of 74.4%. Auburn walked away from the contest with a 51.1% field goal percentage (24 out of 47) and made 11 out of their 21 3-point attempts.

Keyshawn Hall is a guy who was a major contributor for this game. He shot 53.8% from the field and also distributed 2 assists. He played 36 minutes and also snagged 3 rebounds. He walked away with 31 points on 7 of 13 shooting.

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Auburn enters this game with a win-loss record of 14-7 for the year. They are turning it over 10.5 times per contest and as a group they commit 17.1 personal fouls every game. As a team, Auburn is collecting 37.5 boards per game and has tallied 282 dimes on the season, which has them ranked 223rd in the country in terms of passing the rock. The Tigers are shooting 33.5% on shots beyond the perimeter (164 of 490) and 74.0% from the free throw line. They have an average of 85.1 pts per game (34th in the country) while connecting on 47.0% from the floor.

On the defensive end of the court, the Tigers have forced 12.1 turnovers every game while drawing 20.6 fouls. They currently rank 212th in D-1 in giving up assists to the opposition with 287 surrendered this year. The Tigers defense is giving up a shooting percentage of 44.8% (566 of 1,263) and they surrender 32.6 boards per game as a group. They concede 35.0% on shots from downtown while they are 286th in Division 1 in points per game from their opponents (77.7).

When they last stepped on the court, the Tennessee Volunteers got the win with a final of 86-85 against Georgia. When discussing team rebounding, Tennessee permitted Georgia to snag 25 in total (7 offensive). They shot 32.1% from beyond the perimeter by connecting on 9 out of 28 and walked away from this one shooting 14 out of 20 at the free throw line (70.0%). The Volunteers permitted Georgia to make 31 out of their 61 attempts from the floor which gave them a percentage of 50.8% in the matchup. When the game finished, the Volunteers went 31 out of 71 from the field which had them shooting 43.7%. With regard to three-point shots, Tennessee converted 9 out of their 23 tries (39.1%). They were able to make 15 of those for a percentage of 60.0%. Georgia earned 20 fouls in the matchup which got the Volunteers to the charity stripe for a total of 25 tries. They coughed up the ball 9 times, while getting 3 steals for the matchup. The Volunteers corralled 25 defensive boards and 22 offensive rebounds for a total of 47 in the matchup.

Ja'Kobi Gillespie was important for the Volunteers in the matchup. He converted 7 of 19 for this game for a field goal percentage of 36.8%, and had 3 rebounds. He racked up 21 points in his 41 minutes on the hardwood and earned 6 assists for the game.

Tennessee has a win-loss mark of 14-6 for the season. The Volunteers have committed 18.4 fouls per game and they hit 68.6% from the free throw line. They are earning an assist 17.6 times per game (31st in the nation) and they are losing possession via turnover 13.0 times per contest. Tennessee has 1,648 points so far this season (82.4 per contest) and they average 43.0 rebounds per contest. When it comes to offense, the Volunteers are shooting 47.8% from the floor, which is ranked 58th in college.

The Volunteers are ranked 80th in the nation in points given up per game with 69.8. They have forced 11.9 turnovers on a nightly basis and have let teams shoot 40.0% from the floor (31st in D-1). The Tennessee defense concedes 29.8% on 3-point attempts (162 of 543) and their opposition makes 69.2% of their shots from the free throw line. They have conceded 10.8 dimes and 30.4 rebounds on a nightly basis, which ranks 20th and 14th in those categories.

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

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Auburn

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