The Michigan Wolverines and the Tennessee Volunteers meet Saturday in NCAA Tournament Second Round college basketball action from Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Michigan is 18-14 overall this year. The Wolverines are coming off a Thursday tournament victory over Colorado State. As for Tennessee, they’re currently 27-7 and fresh off a blowout win over Longwood in their tournament matchup. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Michigan has certainly had their ups and downs this season. Overall the Wolverines have held their own in a tough conference, however. Michigan has been alternating with wins and losses since February 10; that’s a span of 11 straight games. Fortunately the latest outing was a win over Colorado State.
In the Thursday tournament matchup versus Colorado State, the Wolverines were down 29-36 by halftime. Michigan stormed back on a 46-27 clip in the second for the comeback victory 75-63. Leading scorer Hunter Dickinson put up 21 points with six rebounds.
Over on the Tennessee side, they had a tough 2-3 stretch back in mid-January but otherwise the team has been highly consistent this season. The Volunteers have only lost once since February began (February 19 against Arkansas) and they stretched their win streak to eight with a win over Longwood Thursday.
Matched up against the Lancers on Thursday, the Volunteers made quick work of the opposition. Tennessee scored 54 points in the first half on the way to an 88-56 win. Santiago Vescovi was the top scorer on 18 points with four steals and seven assists.
PICK: I’m going to stick with Tennessee. The Volunteers are on an excellent run over this eight-game win streak. They’ve scored 69 or more points in all but two of those outings, and the offense has been working well against some tricky teams along the way.
As for Michigan, they’ve been scoring pretty well themselves lately but they also give up significant points to decent offensive teams. If the Volunteers can get going early here I don’t think the Wolverines will keep the cover pace.