Tennessee vs TN-Martin College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 11/9/2021

The UT-Martin Skyhawks and the Tennessee Volunteers meet Tuesday in college basketball action from Thompson-Boling Arena. UT-Martin managed to go 8-16 last season, finishing near the bottom of the Ohio Valley Conference standings. As for the Volunteers, they put up an 18-9 record last year, earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place. 

UT-Martin posted an 8-16 overall record in 2020-21, going 6-14 in Ohio Valley Conference play. That mark left the Skyhawks just two spots out of the basement in the standings, ahead of only Tennessee Tech (5-15) and Tennessee State (3-17). 

The Skyhawks began their year well at 3-0, but then hit a nine-game losing streak in late December that lasted over a month. UT-Martin would hit a 4-2 stride in late January and early February, but ultimately lost five of their final six games down the stretch. 

Over on the Tennessee side, they put up a respectable 18-9 record last year and went 10-7 in a tough Southeastern Conference. The Volunteers managed a fourth-place finish in the conference standings behind Alabama, Arkansas and LSU. 

The Volunteers won 10 of their first 11 games last year but couldn’t win more than two consecutive games after mid-January. Tennessee would beat Florida in the SEC Tournament but then fell to Alabama in the Semifinals. The Vols earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament, where they fell to Oregon State 70-56 in the First Round. 

UTM is 6-20 ATS in their last 26 road games and 1-4 ATS in their last eight Tuesday games. The under is 4-1 in the Skyhawks’ last five road games.
Meanwhile, the under is 5-0 in the Vols’ last five Tuesday games and 5-2 in their last seven overall. 

PICK: I’m going to stay with Tennessee, but that line is too thick to mess with. The Volunteers have high expectations once again this season, once again notching the highest-rated recruiting class in program history. Tennessee retains four of their top seven scorers, and all of those players averaged 24.7 minutes or more a season ago. Losing guys like Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer will hurt, but there’s more than enough depth to go around. 

Granted, it’s natural to have some trepidation about Tennessee due to their disappointing campaign in 2020-21. On paper at least, the Volunteers once again have the goods to potentially make a deep tournament run this season if all goes well. We’ll see what happens.