Best College Basketball Prop Bets for Tennessee vs. Purdue

The Elite Eight matchup between Tennessee and Purdue is set to feature plenty of star power with the top two vote-getters for the Wooden Award this season in Zach Edey and Dalton Knecht set to do battle. 

Unlike most NCAA Tournament matchups, this will be a rematch of the two team’s game from the Maui Invitational back in November, but both teams have developed into bona fide Final Four contenders. With such a high-profile game, let’s target player props for the likes of Dalton Knecht to get some action on the game. 

Here’s three player props that I’m focused on for this Elite Eight showdown: 

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Best College Basketball Player Props for Tennessee vs. Purdue

• Dalton Knecht OVER 20.5 Points
• Lance Jones UNDER 11.5 Points
• Jonas Aidoo UNDER 6.5 Rebounds

Dalton Knecht OVER 20.5 Points

Knecht didn’t get going into the second half against Creighton, finishing with 26 points while making eight of his 21 field goal attempts and seven of his eight free throw tries. 

Purdue and Creighton play a similar defense, intent on funneling opponents into a mammoth of a center who doesn’t leave the rim. However, Knecht is comfortable from the mid-range area and I expect the offensive game plan look similar to Friday night. 

No reason to eschew from Knecht’s points prop here. 

Lance Jones UNDER 11.5 Points

Jones is on the floor more for his defensive prowess, but he has proven to be a devastating three-point threat for the best perimeter offense in the country. Jones is shooting nearly 36% from three-point range this season and has made two in all three games, combining for 27 points. 

However, I think it's time to sell high on Jones’ prop bet considering he has gone over this mark just once, against Gonzaga (12 points) and Tennessee is one of the strongest three-point defenses in the country, second in “open three rate '' per ShotQuality. 

Jones has a three-point rate of 60%, he isn’t doing much else. If that’s the case, I think the game plan goes against him and he stays under this mark.

Jonas Aidoo UNDER 6.5 Rebounds

Aidoo has the tall order of checking Edey on the block for the Vols, or at least the first crack at him. The big man played decently against Ryan Kalkbrenner of Creighton, a natural comparison, but only scored four points and grabbed four rebounds in 17 minutes of action. 

There’s a chance that Rick Barnes continues to rotate different bigs in the game and Aidoo’s usage continues to dwindle. For what it's worth, Aidoo picked up five fouls against Edey in 17 minutes in the first meeting. Not saying that will happen again, but there are a lot of avenues for Aidoo to stay under against a stout rebounding unit in Purdue, who is second in rebounding percentage on the year. 

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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