March Madness: Tennessee vs Oregon State 3/19/21 College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions

The Tennessee Volunteers face off with the Oregon State Beavers Friday in college basketball NCAA Tournament action from Bankers Life Fieldhouse as March Madness rolls on. 

Coming into this NCAA Tournament First Round matchup, Oregon State sits at 17-12 overall. The Beavers have won three straight, most recently over Colorado in the Pac-12 tourney. As for the Volunteers, they’re 18-8 this year. Tennessee is 2-1 in their last three and coming off a loss to Alabama. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place. 

Oregon State was fighting to stay above .500 for most of the year, and they were sitting at 11-11 back on February 20 after a 1-4 stretch. Since then the Beavers have gone 6-1, however. They’ve beaten UCLA, Oregon and Colorado in their last three outings. 

In the 70-68 Pac-12 Tournament championship win over Colorado, Oregon State’s Maurice Calloo led the team with 15 points, three rebounds and one assist. Jarod Lucas added 14 points with three assists and two rebounds, and Gianni Hunt had 10 points with two boards. 

Over on the Tennessee side, they kicked off their year on a nice 10-1 run before a 2-3 stretch in late January/early February. The Volunteers haven’t lost consecutive games since then. After beating Florida in the tournament, Tennessee fell to Alabama last Saturday. 

In the 73-68 loss to Alabama, Tennessee’s Keon Johnson put up 20 points with nine rebounds and one assist. Jaden Springer added 18 points with four rebounds and three assists, and Santiago Vescovi had 11 points with five boards and four assists. 

The Beavers are 9-1-1 ATS in their last 11 after an ATS win and 5-1 ATS in their last six Friday games. Oregon State is 5-1 in their last six neutral-site games and 16-5-1 ATS in their last 22 overall. 

Meanwhile, the Volunteers are 3-0-1 ATS in their last four after a straight-up loss and 4-1-1 ATS in their last six after an ATS loss. Tennessee is 0-4 ATS in their last four NCAA Tournament games and the over is 6-1 in their last seven Friday games. 

PICK: I’m going to stick with Oregon State in this one. The Beavers put up three nice wins in their Pac-12 championship bid, notching 70 or more points in each. Oregon State has generally been scoring well over this 6-1 run, and their confidence is running high. Tennessee can be a good offensive team and should have most of the control here, but I still like the Beavers on a cover.