The Austin Peay Governors and the Tennessee Volunteers meet Wednesday in college basketball action from Thompson-Boling Arena. Austin Peay sits at 6-6 overall this year. The Governors lost to Murray State in their last game. As for Tennessee, they’re 9-2 on the season and coming off a tough loss to Arizona. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Austin Peay was just 3-5 through eight games this year, winning against only Milligan, South Florida and Albany in that time. The Governors would then beat TN State, KY Christian and Lindsey Wilson before another loss to Murray State.
In the Murray State game back on Friday, the Governors took a 29-27 lead into the second half. Austin Peay was drilled 41-31 in the second for a 68-60 loss, however. Elijah Hutchins-Everett doubled up on 17 points and 11 rebounds during the defeat.
Over on the Tennessee side, they’ve only got losses to Colorado and Arizona so far this year. The victories otherwise were over Tennessee Tech, FGCU, Butler, USC, Kansas, McNeese State, Alcorn State, Eastern Kentucky and Maryland.
Matched up against Arizona on Saturday, Tennessee had a 35-35 tie by the break. The Volunteers were outscored 40-35 in the second for a 75-70 defeat. Zakai Zeigler was the leading team scorer on 21 points and six boards.
PICK: I’m going to stick with Tennessee. The line’s a little too thick to mess with, though. The Volunteers weren’t at their sharpest in the second half against Arizona. Tennessee ended up shooting 42.9 percent from the field in the defeat, along with a 38-30 rebounding deficit. (10-9 offensive). The good news is that the Volunteers should match up well here and post a truckload of offense. Tennessee had a run of three straight games with 76 or more points scored going earlier this month. I like them to get back to business on Wednesday. As for Austin Peay, they’ve been scoring pretty well in comparable matchups this season but I don’t think they’ll get out of the 60s in this one.