Kentucky vs Tennessee 1/15/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Tennessee Volunteers and the Kentucky Wildcats meet Saturday in college basketball action from Rupp Arena. Tennessee is sitting at 11-4 so far. The Volunteers took out South Carolina in their last game. As for Kentucky, they’re 13-3 and beat Vanderbilt in their last outing. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Tennessee posted a solid 8-2 run over their first 10 games. The only losses in that time were to Villanova and Texas Tech. The Volunteers are 3-2 in the five games since with victories over Arizona, Ole Miss and South Carolina. 

Back on Tuesday versus South Carolina, the Volunteers held the Gamecocks to just 24 points in the first half and 22 in the second in a nice 66-46 win. Tennessee’s Josiah-Jordan James notched a double-double in the victory with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Over on the Kentucky side, they lost their opener to Duke this year but then hit a seven-game win streak. Over the last eight games the Wildcats are 6-2 with victories versus North Carolina, Western Kentucky, Missouri, High Point, Georgia and Vanderbilt. 

Matched up against Vanderbilt on Tuesday, the Wildcats scored 41 points in the first half on the way to a 78-66 win. Oscar Tshiebwe posted 30 points with 13 rebounds there, and Tyty Washington added 15 points with four boards and four assists. 

The Wildcats are 4-1 ATS in their last five at home and 3-12 ATS in their last 15 after an ATS win. The over is 4-1 in Kentucky’s last five at home. 

Meanwhile, the Volunteers are 5-2 ATS in their last seven overall and 2-6 ATS in their last eight Saturday games. The under is 8-2 in Tennessee’s last 10 overall. 

PICK: I’m going to stay with Kentucky in this one. I could probably go either way though; it’s looking like a pretty good matchup. The Wildcats have scored well over this 6-2 run, posting 78 or more points in each of their victories. Kentucky can get bogged down versus good defensive teams, though; they notched a combined 122 points versus Notre Dame and LSU. 

Tennessee could pose some issues for the Wildcats. The Vols have held opponents to 60 or fewer points in two of the last three, so they’re going to want to keep this a lower-scoring game as well. I think Kentucky has enough offense to pull off the cover, though.