Tennessee vs Alabama Prediction 3/1/25 College Basketball Picks Today
Alabama (23-5) vs. Tennessee (23-5)
March 1, 2025 4:00 pm EDT
The Line: Tennessee -3.5; Over/Under: 153.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Alabama Crimson Tide and the Tennessee Volunteers meet Saturday in college basketball action from Thompson-Boling Arena. Here’s a Tennessee vs Alabama prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Tennessee vs Alabama pick.
Alabama Crimson Tide Betting Preview
Alabama has been quite the consistent team all season. They’ve got just five defeats so far, with only one instance of consecutive losses. The Tide kicked things off with a 6-2 stretch featuring defeats by Purdue and Oregon. A win streak over North Carolina, Creighton, North Dakota, Kent State, South Dakota State, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas A&M came next before another loss to Ole Miss. Alabama would beat Kentucky, Vanderbilt, LSU, Mississippi State, Georgia, Arkansas and Texas in the next seven before losses to Auburn and Missouri. Since then it’s been wins over Kentucky and Mississippi State however, which gives the Crimson Tide a 23-5 record across their first 28 games of the 2024-25 campaign so far.
In the Mississippi State game on Tuesday, the Tide came out of the first half sporting a dominant 53-27 advantage. Alabama cruised the rest of the way on a 58-46 second half and took the easy blowout win 111-73. Leading the way was Chris Youngblood with 27 points, three rebounds and one assist in 26 minutes. Mark Sears wasn’t close behind with 21 points, 10 assists, three rebounds and three steals for a double-double. Leading the bench scorers was Aden Holloway with 13 points and five assists, while Mouhamed Dioubate doubled up on 10 bench points and 11 rebounds in 17 minutes of work.
Tennessee Volunteers Betting Preview
Over on the Tennessee side, they had a bit of a choppy run going back in January but outside of that it’s been a great year in the record column so far. The Volunteers stormed out of the gate with a 14-game win streak that lasted from November 4 to January 7 when the team took their first defeat at the hands of Florida (a road loss). A 3-3 run came next with losses to Vanderbilt, Auburn and Kentucky among wins over Texas, Georgia and Mississippi State. Since then it’s been a 6-1 run with a loss to Kentucky amid wins over Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and LSU. In total that gives the Volunteers a 23-5 overall record across their first 28 games of the season so far.
Matched up against LSU in their Tuesday game, the Vols held a 26-23 edge by the break. Tennessee kept it going in the second half with a 39-36 run and took the eventual victory 65-59. Tops in scoring was Zakai Zeigler with 17 points, two steals and three assists. Felix Okpara added 15 points with seven boards and two blocks, while Chaz Lanier chipped in on 14 points with nine rebounds in 36 minutes of work during the victory.
Why the Tennessee Volunteers will win
- Tennessee has won 14 of its last 15 games at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center.
- Alabama has lost five of its last six games against Top 5 AP-ranked opponents.
- Tennessee has won the first half in 10 of its last 12 day games.
Why the Alabama Crimson Tide will win
- Alabama has won each of its last eight games following a home win.
- Alabama has won the first half in six of its last seven road games against the Southeastern Conference.
Total Points Facts
- Each of Alabama’s last 15 road games against Conference opponents have produced a total of 156+ points.
- Each of Tennessee’s last 10 day games against Top 10 AP-ranked opponents have produced a total of 146 or fewer points.
Tennessee vs Alabama Prediction
I’ll probably go with Alabama here. The Tide cruised right on past Mississippi State in a home win during their last outing, shooting a nice 52.1 percent from the field, 48.9 percent (22-of-45) from 3-point range and 15-of-18 (83.3 percent) from the line. Alabama also scooped up 42 rebounds and had an impressive 28 team assists along the way. Defensively the Tide held a pretty good Bulldogs team to just 38.4 percent shooting from the field. Alabama is on a scoring tear these days, with 85 or more points in 11 straight games (a 9-2 run).
As for Tennessee, they didn’t shoot great (41.1 percent) in their latest win over LSU but made up for it on a 44-28 rebounding edge. The Vols have been a mixed bag when it comes to scoring totals lately, but the defense has been strong. It’ll be interesting to see what they can do against the Alabama offense. Should be a great game to watch.
