The Tennessee Volunteers and Syracuse Orange face off on Monday in a college basketball showdown in the Maui Invitational at the Stan Sherif Center.
Tennessee Has Been Impressive to Start the Season
Tennessee comes into this game with a 3-0 record overall, and that includes a victory over the Wisconsin Badgers. In that game, the offense scored 80 points. In the last game against Wofford, the offense was good again, putting up 82 points on the way to the 21-point victory. Dalton Knecht has been the top player for Wisconsin, putting up 18 points, three rebounds, and one assist. Tennessee on the season is averaging 80.7 points, while their defense is giving up 57.7 points per game. In this game, the Volunteers are going to need the defense to step up again in a big way.
This Tournament Will Tell Us A Lot About Syracuse
There are still a lot of questions about how this Syracuse team can do this season, and this game should tell us a lot. On Tuesday, Syracuse faced off against Colgate, and they scored 79 points on the way to the victory. Chris Bell had a solid game, putting up 25 points. Judah Mintz also had 23 points, eight assists, and three rebounds. Syracuse on the season is averaging 83.7 points, while their defense is giving up 74.7 points per game. In this game, the defense is going to need to step up.
Shane’s Free Pick
The Syracuse defense is going to be a big issue, and it’s going to let them down in this game. The Orange are giving up 74.7 points per game, and they are going to really struggle in this game to slow down Tennessee. Look for the Volunteers to have no issue running up the score, and I expect they are going to finish with at least 85 points here. Back Tennessee to win this game and cover the spread. I think Tennessee wins this game by right around 20 points.
