Tennessee Volunteers vs. Texas A&M Aggies: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/21/2023

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Venue: Reed Arena, College Station, TX

Where to watch: ESPN

DraftKings: Texas A&M -1

FanDuel: Texas A&M -0.5

BetMGM: Texas A&M -1.5

Caesars: Texas A&M -1

No. 11 Tennessee: 20-7 (9-5 SEC)

No. 25 Texas A&M: 20-7 (12-2 SEC)

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Not sure where we’re at in putting the Tennessee Volunteers in the fraud category, and I’d venture to guess after writing this that it won’t be good, but they’re getting there. Three losses in four games have sunk the Vols and they’ll likely be heading out of the top 10 sooner rather than later. Tennessee will try to bounce back on Tuesday, but it won’t be an easy task with the Texas A&M Aggies on deck.

Tennessee, following a big win over No. 1 Alabama, fell back down hard with a 66-54 loss to Kentucky on Saturday. How bad was it? They fell behind 39-19 at halftime. After that win over Alabama, they go to Lexington and lay an egg in the first 20 minutes. Kentucky is not the strong one that it used to be, and it’s sort of shocking that it has unraveled in these three losses the way that it has. So much so that Kentucky completed the regular season sweep of Tennessee.

“I wish I knew about the (inconsistency issues), we’d fix it,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “I think it goes back, and I don’t understand, with as much time as we spend, older guys talking about doing your job, playing your role night in and night out, and not letting emotion get the best of us."

These three losses have pushed Tennessee down the barrel of the SEC standings and there’s no certainty anymore that they are guaranteed a good spot heading into the conference tournament. They’re currently tied with Kentucky for third, but Kentucky would claim the No. 3 seed via tiebreaker. They’re four games back of the Crimson Tide atop the conference. The team ahead of them? Their red-hot opponent on Tuesday.

Texas A&M, by way of winning five in a row, is now in second place in the SEC and is suddenly one game out of Alabama for the top spot in the standings after winning 69-60 at Missouri on Saturday. These last five wins are suddenly something that College Station can look forward to and it makes things all the more intriguing. 

Wade Taylor IV led the way with 21 points, and Dexter Dennis added 17 points and 10 rebounds to push A&M to another strong win over a Missouri team that is easily a 20-win team with one more win. That’s a quality win, along with the Arkansas game and the Auburn win.

A&M wasn’t the type of contender we thought of at the onset of the season, but they are suddenly the team that is bound to be a threat among the top of the conference. What’s so weird is that all it takes is one winning streak to set things upside down. And that’s why March is always fun. This is March, as some would say.

This is the only meeting between the teams this year, so it’s a big game for tiebreaker purposes and statement purposes. It’s right there for A&M: After this, they have road games against Mississippi State and Ole Miss, followed by Alabama at home. They have a real chance of making this a fun finish. Texas A&M 76, Tennessee 71

Tennessee is 2-5 ATS as an underdog the last 3 seasons.

Tennessee is 7-6 ATS after a conference game this season.

Texas A&M is 14-7 ATS as a favorite this season.

Texas A&M is 10-1 ATS as a home favorite of 6 points or less the last 3 seasons.

PG: Zakai Zeigler

SG: Santiago Vescovi

SF: Josiah James

PF: Olivier Nkamhoua

C: Julian Phillips

PG: Wade Taylor IV

SG: Tyrece Radford

SF: Dexter Dennis

PF: Henry Coleman III

C: Julius Marble II