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The Tennessee Volunteers take on the struggling Georgia Southern Eagles at the Thompson–Boling Arena with Rick Barnes’ team looking to make it three wins on the spin. The Southern Eagles are still looking for their first win of the season, and they will be hard-pushed to find it against the Volunteers in their backyard when the two colleges meet on Tuesday night. Tennessee is favored and expected to win. We look at their chances of covering the spread in our preview and also bring you our latest NCAA Men’s Basketball betting picks on the match.
- What; 2023/24 NCAA Men’s Basketball
- Who; Tennessee Volunteers vs. Georgia Southern Eagles
- Where; Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee
- When; Tuesday, December 12th 2023
- Time; 7 pm ET
Tennessee has a 6-3 record in the 2023/24 college basketball season. They are 4-0 at home and 2-3 on the road. In the Southeastern, they are yet to play a conference match. Despite their three high-profile losses this season, the best college basketball betting sites still make the Volunteers their favorite to win the SEC regular-season title at +275. Their main rivals in the betting are Kentucky (+500), Texas A&M (+600), and Auburn (+650).
As for the Southern Eagles, they’ve had an awful 2023 so far, losing nine from nine. Their latest defeat came at the hands of North Florida last weekend. At the UNF Arena, the Eagles lost 64-56. Georgia did hold a seven-point lead (34-27) at the halfway stage. But they then fell away badly in the second period, with the Ospreys outscoring them 37 points to 22, to end up with a comprehensive eight-point win.
Not the ideal preparation for a trip to Tennessee.
Betting to win the 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship
In the latest betting to win the NCAA Men’s Championship, the best college basketball betting sites have reacted to Purdue’s response to their first defeat of the 2023/24 season. After their loss to Northwestern, the top sportsbooks eased the Boilermakers out to +1100 second favorite, with the Arizona Wildcats replacing them at the top of the betting.
Following their loss, the Boilermakers defeated Iowa 87-68, and then last weekend, they beat Alabama 92-86. As a result of their back-to-back wins, the bookmakers have now made the Boilermakers joint favorites with the Arizona Wildcats. Both colleges are now +1000 to win the 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.
This Saturday, the two sides meet in Indianapolis in what looks set to be the game of the season. Expect whoever takes the spoils from the showdown to be the outright favorite and quite probably the number one side when the new AP rankings are released.
In the betting behind Purdue and Arizona is UConn at +1200. The Huskies started the season at around fifth or sixth favorite, depending on which bookmaker you used. Now, they are the third favorite, pretty much across the board.
Next is Marquette at 1400. Then Kansas and Houston, who are both +1600, with Kentucky at +1800 and Creighton at +2000.
Tennessee Volunteers vs. Georgia Southern Eagles Match Betting
On the handicap, the Southern Eagles are receiving a 31.5-point start. Georgia is -115 to win with the spread. While the Volunteers are -110 to win and cover the spread.
Finally, the total points spread is 147.5. Over and under are both -110. More betting options are available on our college basketball odds table. For our odds, we only use the top-rated NCAA betting sites.
| Tennessee Volunteers vs. Georgia Southern Eagles |  |  |  |
| Tennessee (-31.5) | -105 | -110 | -110 |
| Georgia (+31.5) | -115 | -110 | -110 |
| Over 147.5 | -110 | -110 | -110 |
| Under 147.5 | -110 | -110 | -110 |
Troubles on the road for the Southern Eagles
So far on the road this season, the Georgia Southern Eagles have played eight and lost eight. They were also defeated in their only home match of the season, losing by just two points (81-79) to the Jacksonville Dolphins at the start of December. On their disastrous run on the road, they have lost by totals of 22, 10, 17, 4, 18, 17, 31, and 8.
Two of those defeats were huge. They were the 84-62 loss to Georgia Tech in the opening match of the season and the 86-55 defeat to the Michigan State Spartans at the end of November.
As for the Volunteers, their three defeats this season came at the hands of Purdue (71-67), Kansas (69-60), and UNC (100-92). They were three successive defeats, and all against rivals that the Volunteers would be hoping to compete against. The Volunteers have since bounced back with an 87-66 win over George Mason and an 86-79 win over Illinois, both at the Thompson-Boling Arena.
Other wins on their home court have come against the Wofford Terriers (82-61) and Tennessee Tech (80-42).
Tennessee Volunteers vs. Georgia Southern Eagles Betting Picks
A spread of 31.5 points is a lot to cover. But the Georgia Southern Eagles have lost to MI State by 31 points and Georgia Tech by 22. The Volunteers’ biggest win this season was their 38-point win over Tennessee Tech. Despite this, we can’t see this match following a similar pathway to the Volunteers’ win over their local rivals. Tennessee have been a bit too inconsistent this season. So for our betting pick, we are going for Tennessee to win and cover the spread.
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