Tennessee Volunteers vs. Georgia Bulldogs Prediction & Game Preview - 3/1/2022

Time: 6:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Stegeman Coliseum, Athens, GA

Where to watch: SEC Network

DraftKings: Tennessee -16

BetMGM: Tennessee -16.5

Caesars: Tennessee -16

No. 13 Tennessee: 21-7 (12-4 SEC)

Georgia: 6-23 (1-15 SEC)

It was arguably the craziest weekend of college basketball ever. And why wouldn't it be? It was the first time ever that the top six teams in the country all lost on the same day. So of course, as fate would have it, most of the top six teams all did not falter that much in the rankings.

But the Tennessee volunteers did see an increase in their situation, moving up to the 13th best team in the country entering the final weekend of the regular season. And what a time it was for Tennessee to pull off its biggest win of the season.

That's saying a lot considering Tennessee literally just beat Kentucky last week and kind of put the whole SEC conversation up in giant upside-down shape thing. But the volunteers did pull off a huge upset on Saturday defeating the formerly third-ranked Auburn Tigers by the final score of 67-62.

Despite Jabari Smith's best efforts for Auburn, scoring a game-high 27 points and grabbing 8 rebounds, Tennessee's death proved to be the ultimate factor in this victory. Santiago Vescovi like Tennessee with 14 points, and Kennedy Chandler end Zakai Zeigler each chipped in with 13 points. It wasn't Tennessee's best shooting performance as expected, given how Auburn is one of the best teams in the country defensively. But the difference was Tennessee making 21 of 27 free-throw attempts and also outrebounding Auburn 54-31. Not to mention grabbing 21 offensive rebounds definitely helped cause here.

We're not entirely sure if Tennessee is the real deal when it comes to this sort of thing, but they are proving it day after day that they are for real and will be a legitimate force in the conference tournament. There's still a week to go to figuring all this out, but clearly, it is not just a three-team league at this point. Tennessee is in the conversation and it is here to stay.

Another day, another loss for the Georgia Bulldogs. Now nine straight defeats after losing on Saturday by 12 to the Florida Gators, Georgia is closing in on probably its worst season in program history. Not that I know off the top of my head the collection of talent that is sweeping through Athens GA every year but it's definitely is something to behold that they continue to be this bad.

Georgia actually shot the ball well in its loss at Florida, surprising literally every single spectator that watched this game, meaning all three of them. Kario Oquendo led Georgia with 20 points but went seven of 19 from the floor and 411 from 3 point range. Braelen Bridges had 16 points, but not a single soul knew how to slow down Florida's starting lineup with two players scoring at least 20 points.

It's just the way life is right now for Georgia. It's not like the football program clearly, but I think a lot of people would probably quit the football team on the basketball team and they might be able to win one or two games. Trying to put the entire team out there in the hopes that they will rebound and makes something happen toward the end of the season is definitely not the way to go.

If you're looking for good news for Georgia, at least they cover most times. I believe the line was 20 at one point weekend, and if that's the case then perhaps Georgia isn't a lost cause to bet on as we all thought they were. But still no one wants to watch this team just go up and smoke and that's pretty much where we're heading right now with this program.

Tennessee is laying about 16 points as far as the opening spread goes for this game, and part of me wants to take it because we know that it's going to result in bad timing, but also Georgia is that bad, and facing a ranked opponent does not seem like a fun idea. Tennessee has won seven of its last eight And they are I'm really good at covering games on the road, covering 5 of their last 6 on the road. The under is also cashed every time but Tennessee has a straight-up victory on the road. Georgia has failed to cover in its last five games and I don't anticipate doing that now. Tennessee by 20

Tennessee is 35-31 ATS as a favorite.

The under is 22-9 after Tennessee wins consecutive games.

Georgia is 1-7 ATS following consecutive overs.

Georgia is 6-16 ATS after a loss this season.

PG: Kennedy Chandler

SG: Santiago Vescovi

SF: Josiah-Jordan James

PF: Olivier Nkamhoua

C: Uros Plavsic

PG: Aaron Cook

SG: Kario Oquendo
SF: Jaxon Etter
PF: Noah Baumann
C: Braelen Bridges

Points: Santiago Vescovi -- 13.6

Rebounds: J.J. James -- 5.7

Assists: Kennedy Chandler -- 4.7

Points: Kario Oquendo -- 15.3

Rebounds: Braelen Bridges -- 5.6

Assists: Aaron Cook -- 5.6