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How and what to watch for South Carolina vs. No. 19 Tennessee

Tennessee will be back at the home arena going up against the Gamecocks, which might be without one of their top players.

By Erik Buchinger Updated

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Tennessee Volunteers guard Jaden Springer drives to the basket against LSU Tigers forward Josh LeBlanc Sr. during the second half at Pete Maravich Assembly Center. dStephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

The Tennessee Volunteers will return to their home court when they host a South Carolina Gamecocks team that continues to struggle in a game that was pushed back until Wednesday night due to COVID-19 contact tracing within the Vols program.

Tennessee (14-5, 7-5 SEC) checks in at fifth place in the conference and is coming off a 78-65 road loss to the LSU Tigers on Saturday. Freshman guard Jaden Springer led the Volunteers with 21 points, seven assists and six rebounds, but it wasn’t enough in the loss. Tennessee’s strength comes on the defensive end of the floor as the Volunteers rank No. 3 in adjusted defensive efficiency.

South Carolina (5-9, 3-7 SEC) is in 12th place in the SEC and comes in with a three-game losing streak. Most recently, the Gamecocks were beaten 81-74 at home against the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday. South Carolina’s third leading scorer Jermaine Couisnard left the game in the first half with an ankle injury and did not return. The Gamecocks need all the help they can get to pull off this upset, and there has been no update whether Couisnard will be good to go.

Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming

You can watch South Carolina vs. Tennessee on Wednesday, February 17th at 9:00 p.m. ET on SEC Network, or you can stream it via the ESPN app with a cable or streaming service login. If you don’t have a cable login to access the ESPN app, you can get a free trial from YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, AT&T TV Now, FuboTV, or Sling TV to stream it.

Point Spread, Totals, Odds, Trends

Point spread: Tennessee -11.5
Point Total: 143
Money line: South Carolina +540, Tennessee -835

DraftKings Sportsbook Betting Splits at 4:30 p.m.

South Carolina: 26% of handle, 36% of bets
Tennessee: 74% of handle, 64% of bets

  • The point total went over in 15 of South Carolina’s last 20 games.
  • South Carolina is 1-4 straight up in their last five games and 1-7 in their last eight on the road.
  • Tennessee is 2-6 against the spread in their last eight games but 11-2 straight up in their last 13 home contests.

The Best Bet

While the Gamecocks have had plenty of COVID-19 issues themselves this season, they tend not to get blown out. COVID-19 contact tracing means teams are without full personnel at practice, it gives the Gamecocks another day to get rest at a time of year it’s needed.

Pick: South Carolina +11.5

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