Tennessee Volunteers at Kentucky Wildcats Betting Odds

Opening Line: Tennessee +9.5 / Kentucky -9.5 O/U 147

Time: 9 PM EST Saturday February 13, 2010 on ESPN

Tonight in a SEC match up the 2nd ranked Kentucky Wildcats host the 12th ranked Tennessee Volunteers. Kentucky has won 4 straight since dropping their first game of the season and they are in first place in the conference with a slight 1 game lead over Vanderbilt and a 2 game lead over Tennessee. The Volunteers are coming off a loss in their last game, which snapped their 3 game winning streak. Tennessee is not really in top form heading to Kentucky, as they have lost 3 of their last 6 games.

This season Kentucky is 16-0 at home and 10-11 ATS and Tennessee is 3-3 on the road and 9-10-1 ATS.

Both teams played on Tuesday night, but with different results, as Kentucky beat Alabama 66-55 while Tennessee lost to Vanderbilt 90-71.

The big question mark in this game for Tennessee is if leading scorer and rebounder F/C Wayne Chism (13.1 ppg 7 rpg) can play after spraining his ankle in the loss to Vanderbilt. If he can't go the Volunteers will only have 1 player averaging in double figures in G Scotty Hopson (13.1 ppg).

Tennessee does have a solid defensive team only allowing an average of 65 ppg. They will have to play great defense to score the upset tonight, especially if Chism can't go.

Tennessee has a tall order in this game to keep the run-and-gun Wildcats from lighting up the scoreboard. Kentucky is averaging 81.6 ppg this season led by G John Wall (16.7 ppg) and F DeMarcus Cousins (16.4 ppg), who are both going to be lottery picks in the NBA draft.

Cousins is averaging 10.1 rpg, so the Volunteers have to body up on him and not let him dominate the boards tonight.

Tennessee will have to try to slow down Wall, as if this is an up-tempo game the Volunteers have no chance to win.

Tennessee will have to shoot the 3 well to win this game and while Hopson is the only G averaging in double figures the Volunteers do have 4 guards that are averaging between 5.5 ppg and 8.8 ppg.

Tennessee is 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games, 4-1-1 ATS in their last 6 games as an underdog, and has an Under record of 9-3 in their last 12 road games.

Kentucky is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games against teams with a winning record and has an Over record of 11-4 in their last 15 games.

In the last 4 meetings between these 2 teams in Kentucky the total has gone Under every time.

Our Selection : Many of you may feel that the 10 points that Kentucky is laying is very generous. Especially since they are facing the Vols who currently rank No. 12 in the nation. We don't agree. The Vols have lost 5 games this season and they didn't just lose these games on a late basket, they lost them in most cases in blow out fashion. The last 4 losses have been by a combined 65 points. That's an average of over 16 points per game. Another issue is the availabilty of W. Chism for the Volunteers. He's averaging 13.1 PPG along with 7 boards. The scoring will be missed of course, but if he isn't able to go tonight, his rebounding will be the key. The Wildcats lead the nation with a plus 10.2 rebounding margin and that could easily exceed that number if Chism's ankle keeps him out. It's a large number, but we like the Wildcats here even if Chism does go. Take Kentucky -10