Tennessee Volunteers (23-6) vs. South Carolina Gamecocks (24-5)
March 6, 2024 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: South Carolina Gamecocks +5.5; Over/Under: 141.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Tennessee Volunteers and the South Carolina Gamecocks meet Wednesday in college basketball action from Colonial Life Arena. Tennessee is 23-6 overall this year following a win versus Alabama. As for South Carolina, they improved to 24-5 with a win over Florida on Saturday. Let’s get into our Tennessee vs. South Carolina prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Tennessee Volunteers
The Volunteers only lost six of their first 23 games versus Purdue, Kansas, North Carolina, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Texas A&M. Since then it’s been six straight wins for Tennessee over Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Texas A&M, Auburn and Alabama.
Matched up against Alabama on Saturday, the Volunteers came out of the break with a 41-39 deficit. Tennessee came back with a 42-33 run from there and took the victory 81-74 in the end. Leading scorer Zakai Zeigler finished with 18 points, four assists and two rebounds.
South Carolina Gamecocks
Over on the South Carolina side, they managed a 21-5 run over their first 26 outings. The only losses in that time were to Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, Auburn and LSU. The Gamecocks are on a three-game win streak right now, taking out Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Florida.
In the Florida matchup over the weekend, the Gamecocks were trailing 37-31 going into the second half. South Carolina bagged the comeback win 82-76 on a 51-39 second half, though. Meechie Johnson was the leading team scorer with 25 points, four rebounds and three assists.
ANDREW’S FREE TENNESSEE VS SOUTH CAROLINA PREDICTION
I’ll stick with Tennessee. You could argue this one either way, though; it’ll be a great matchup. The Volunteers didn’t shoot all that great versus Alabama, hitting 36.4 percent from the field and 72.4 percent (21-of-29) from the line. The defense was solid, though; the Vols held the Tide to 38.3 percent shooting on the other side. Tennessee is on a nice scoring run these days with 72 or more points in six straight and 81 or more in five of those.
Tennessee took a tough 63-59 home loss the last time these teams met up back on January 30. The Volunteers didn’t shoot very well in that one either with 36.2 percent from the field and 12-of-20 (60 percent) from the line. Tennessee is going to have to sharpen up on free throws, as this one will probably be a defensive battle as well. I like the Volunteers to eke out a cover in a close matchup. Should be a fun one to watch.
