Tennessee vs. Texas Prediction and Odds (Bet Longhorns at Home)

Tennessee travels to Austin, Texas for a battle against the Longhorns in what should be a defensive showdown on Saturday night.

This will mark the return of former Longhorn coach Rick Barnes, who is now the head man at Tennessee. Both of these teams are top 15 clubs in KenPom's database, and this could go a long way towards validating their NCAA Tournament resume.

Here are the odds for this one from WynnBET Sportsbook:

Tennessee vs. Texas Odds, Spread and Total

Spread:

• Tennessee: +4 (-110)
• Texas: -4 (-110)

Moneyline:

• Tennessee: +155
• Texas: -180

Total: 126.5 (Over -110/Under) -110)

Tennessee vs. Texas Prediction and Pick

These are two of the most elite defenses in the country, both adept at generating turnovers. However, both offenses have failed them at times, especially from the perimeter. Both teams are bottom half of the country from three-point land, however the Vols are much more dependent on the long ball.

36% of the visitors points come from beyond the arc, the 55th most in the country, but Texas does a great job of running foes off the three-point line and as we mentioned above, Tennessee struggles to shoot them. Meanwhile, Texas likes to play from the inside and get to the charity stripe, where they shoot 77% as a team, 24th best in the country.

I believe this game will be played at a snail's pace with Texas bottom 10 tempo rate, per KenPom. First year head coach Chris Beard has brought over the 'no-middle' defense from his Texas Tech days and has the Longhorns defense humming on that side of the ball. I don't believe Tennessee can execute in the half court to win on the road considering they are too reliant on their perimeter shooting, not something that translates to road victories.

In front of a home crowd, I believe Texas is going to continue on a positive trajectory towards becoming a Final Four threat. I played Texas on the moneyline with Arkansas to create a small + money parlay as points should be tough to come by on both sides.

PICK: Texas ML as a parlay piece

All of Reed's college basketball plays can be tracked here, his best bets column for college basketball is 27-36-3 for -11.5 units.