NCAAB Pick: Under 131.5 (-110) at Bovada (visit our Bovada Review)
The calendar flips to February on Wednesday and the first SEC college basketball game of the month features No. 2 Tennessee visiting Florida.
Which side of the 6.5-point Spread has the best value at the top-rated online books? Keep an eye on the NCAAB odds as we also have a play on the Total.
Remember, fans from the Volunteer State or the Sunshine State who are looking to make a wager on this game should be sure to check out our top-rated Tennessee or Florida betting sites.
Tennessee Volunteers vs. Florida Gators
Wednesday, February 1, 2023 – 07:00 PM EST at Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O’Connell Center
ESPN2 has this SEC matchup between No. 2 Tennessee and unranked Florida from Gainesville.
It’s likely the Vols reach No. 1 in the new polls next week if they sweep this week and current No. 1 Purdue loses at least once, which is very possible with a tough game Wednesday vs. Penn State and a tougher one Saturday at No. 21 Indiana.
While the Vols and Gators are big rivals, this is their only scheduled meeting as not every SEC team gets to play a home-and-home against all the other schools.
There are simply too many of them. Last season, they also played once and the Vols won 78-71 in Knoxville. Santiago Vescovi led with 23 points and remains a key player for the team. UT trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half before rallying to win.
Tennessee leads the all-time series with Florida, 80-58.
The home team is 10-2 ATS on the NCAAB picks in the past 12 meetings.
Letdown Game For Vols?
Tennessee is 18-3 overall and 7-1 in the SEC, a game behind first-place Alabama. To win the regular-season title, the Vols are (+170) at BMR’s top-rated books and the Tide (-240).
UT’s only SEC loss was home to Kentucky on Jan. 14. The lone scheduled meeting vs. Alabama is in Knoxville on Feb. 15.
Coach Bruce Pearl’s team comes off a fourth straight win, 82-71 over visiting and then-No. 10 Texas on Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge -- just the second men's Top-10 matchup in the 36-year history of Thompson-Boling Arena.
It was Tennessee’s third win over a ranked team this season (Kansas and Maryland the others) and it has won six of its last seven games against AP Top-10 opponents.
A Look at the Squad
Finnish senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua had the game of his life against the Longhorns with a career-high 27 points on 12-for-15 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, three assists, and a block. Zakai Zeigler added 22 points on 7-for-10 shooting, a career-high-tying 10 assists, three rebounds, and two steals.
It was just the seventh double-double in school history to include 20 or more points and 10 or more assists.
Ziegler was named SEC Player of the Week and actually had been coming off the bench until recently. In four games since moving into a starting role, Zeigler is averaging 17.3 points, 7.8 assists, and 2.3 steals per game.
Back in league action, the Vols have won six straight SEC true road games and nine straight SEC games away from home including the 2022 SEC Tournament. During SEC play this year, Tennessee leads the league in scoring defense (55.1 ppg), field-goal percentage (.478), three-point percentage (.356), free throw percentage (.777), assists (17.6), and assist/turnover ratio (1.42).
CBS Sports currently lists UT as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Vols are (+275) to reach the Final Four. Tennessee is 4-0 ATS in its past four games.
Gators Lacking Signature Win
The Florida football program had a disappointing season under a first-year coach in Billy Napier, and the basketball team also has underachieved with a 12-9 overall mark and 5-3 in the SEC under first-year coach Todd Golden, formerly of the University of San Francisco.
Neither ESPN nor CBS Sports currently list the Gators anywhere in their NCAA Tournament bracketology. UF is No. 51 in the NCAA NET rankings and is 10-0 vs. Quad 3 and 4 teams but a brutal 1-7 vs. Quad 1.
The Gators also played the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday and never were much in their 64-50 loss at then-No. 5 Kansas State. It was 37-16 at the half and over. Florida shot just 31% overall and made 4-for-22 from deep (ninth time this season failing to hit at least 27% from three-point range) while being outrebounded 49-36.
"Obviously, being able to hit shots is the thing," said senior forward Colin Castleton, who had 13 points, eight rebounds, and four blocks. "You don't win basketball games without hitting shots and it feels like it's something that's happened a lot this year."
On the bright side, K-State became UF's 10th opponent over the last 11 games to shoot under 40 percent (37.7) from the field.
Offensive Challenges Ahead
Tennessee is the No. 1 overall team in the country via KenPom.
UF has played KenPom's top-ranked team 10 times since the service began in 2002. The Gators are 0-10 in those games.
They almost surely aren’t winning this one, either, but it’s going to be a low-scoring slugfest, and UF, 5-1 ATS in its past six games, can at least hang around at home in what should be a charged atmosphere. It’s the first time since 1968 that Florida will play AP Top 5 teams in back-to-back games.
UT coach Rick Barnes is 1-2 in games in Gainesville, including a 26-point loss in 2021 when the Vols came in at No. 6 and absorbed the largest margin of defeat by a Top-10 team in Florida program history.
Since the start of SEC play, the Gators rate No. 6 nationally in defensive efficiency, which is third-best in the league behind Tennessee (1st) and Alabama (3rd).
This is going to be ugly offensively.
NCAAB Pick: Under 131.5 (-110) at Bovada
NCAAB Pick: Florida +6.5 (-110) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
