Middle Tennessee vs Tennessee Game Information

Middle Tennessee vs Tennessee Preview

No. 1 Tennessee (11-0,6-0 at Home) plays host to Middle Tennessee State (9-3, 2-1 on Road) to Knoxville on Monday night in a nice SEC-Conference USA matchup. In their last 5 games, the Blue Raiders have gone 4-1, beating UAB by 7 (76-69), and Rhodes by 48 (103-55), losing to Belmont by 3 (82-79), Cal Baptist by 11 (75-64), and Lipscomb by 2 (67-65), In their last 5, the Volunteers have gone 5-0, defeating Tennessee Martin by 43 (78-35), Syracuse by 26 (96-70), Miami Florida by 13 (75-62), Illinois by 2 (66-64), and Western Carolina by 48 in their last game (84-36), Tennessee is currently priced at 11/1 to win the 2025 NCAA Basketball championship at DraftKings. Behind Auburn (8/1) and Duke (+850).

Middle Tennessee Off to a Nice Start This Season 

Middle Tennessee (6-2-2 ATS, 5-5-0 O/U) hasn’t lost a game ATS in the month of December and have gone an impressive 7-3 SU in its last 10 but this will be the first Power 4 conference (ACC, Big Ten, SEC, Big 12) team the Blue Raiders have played so far. MTSU is led in scoring by G Jestin Porter (15.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg), F Esaam Mostafa (13.2 ppg, 8.8 rpg), G Jlynn Counter (11.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg), G Camryn Weston (10.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.7 apg), G Kamari Lands (8.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg), F Torey Alston (7.0 ppg, 5.6 rpg), and G Justin Bufford (6.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg), so this a well-round squad with a nice bench, as was evident with Weston’s 30 points against Cal Baptist. The Blue Raiders head in averaging 80.8 ppg (#78) while allowing 70.2 ppg (+10.2 ppg Point Differential), 41.1 rpg (#29), and 12.3 apg (Tied-#332).

Middle Tennessee Betting Trends

• MTSU 4-1 SU in its last 5 games overall
• TheBlue Raiders are 2-0-2 ATS in their last 5 games 
• The Under is 5-1-0 in the last 6 series meetings
• The Blue Raiders won the last series meeting in 2012 (71-64) 
• MTSU is 2-4-0 ATS the last 6 series meetings

No. 1 Tennessee Positive Beat Just Keeps Goes On

Tennessee (8-2-1 ATS, 5-5-0 O/U) has started off the new season as both the top-ranked and unbeaten team as well as one of the best ATS teams with a sexy 25 ppg Scoring Margin (#2, Maryland #1). The Volunteers are led by G Chaz Lanier (18.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg), G Jordan Gainey (12,1 ppg, 3.1 rpg), F Igor Milicic Jr. (11.5 ppg, 7.7 rpg), G Zakai Zeigler (11.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 7.9 apg), F Felix Okpara (6.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg), F Cade Phillips (6.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg), G Jahmal Mashack (6.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg), and G Darlinstone Dunbar (5.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg), so Head Coach Rick Barnes has very solid group. And Barnes will need it with five other Southeastern Conference (SEC) currently ranked in the AP Top 25 along with Auburn (#2), Kentucky (#4), Alabama (#6), Florida (#7), Texas A&M (#12), and Ole Miss (#17). Tennessee also ranks No. 2 in the nation in Scoring Defense (55.9 ppg), just 0.2 ppg behind No. 1 Houston (55.7 ppg).

Tennessee Betting Trends

• Tennessee is 10-0 SU over its last 10 games overall 
• The Volunteers are 8-1-1 ATS their last 10 games
• Tennessee was 18-17-1 ATS last season
• The Under is 8-1 the last 7 Tennessee games
• The Volunteers are 21-3 SU in their last 24 games

Middle Tennessee vs Tennessee Prediction

The Volunteers have beaten their last four non-Power 4 conference opponents by 48 (Western Carolina), 43 (Tennessee Martin), 36 (Austin Peay), and 35 points (Montana), so Middle Tennessee will have its work cut out for them. Tennessee is 5-1 SU in the last 6 series meetings with MTSU (2006 to 2012), winning the first 5 by 31, 59, 10, 21, and 30. The Under was a profitable 5-1 in those games while the Volunteers went 2-4 ATS. The big question here is how high the oddsmakers want to make this one, but anything over 20 points seems a little extreme with the Blue Raiders having an athletic bunch and four guys in double-digits, True, this will be their first game vs the big boys, but they won’t care and will see it as an in-state rivalry and a chance to make some history. It’s hard to see an SEC team losing to a CUSA team on the Road, let alone an unbeaten one with the second-best Point Differential in the land. This Middle Tennessee vs Tennessee NCAAB pick will lean toward taking the points if  25 or more or if the Under if the Total is 155.5 or higher.

Kevin’s Pick: Middle Tennessee +25