Louisville Cardinals vs. Tennessee Volunteers College Basketball prediction, preview (Tuesday 7:00pm ET)
Louisville is off to a strong 9-1 start on the season, a perfect 7-0 at home and 2-0 on a neutral floor. The lone loss? A road loss as a two-point favorite at Arkansas — the Cardinals only true road game of the season.
Now the Cards are set to play their second true road game of the season, against another talented and physical SEC team. This is the first time Louisville has been priced as an underdog this season, and its 1-8 skid against SEC competition might play a role in why.
The Vols haven’t exactly been a covering machine this season, sitting at 3-7 ATS. In fact, Tennessee is currently on a three-game losing streak, dropping all three outright as the favorite. Those three losses were as a 7.5-point favorite to Kansas in Las Vegas, a 7.5-point road favorite at Syracuse and a 2.5-point favorite in Nashville to Illinois.
While the Vols might not be playing their best hoops from what we’ve seen recently, I think this spot sets up tremendously for the bounce-back. The losing streak happened all in games away from home, and now Rick Barnes and company get to return to campus — where they’re 5-0 on the season, and have won 10 in a row dating back to last year.
If returning home wasn’t enough of a spark, the Vols have had a full 10 days to chew on this three-game losing streak. The loss to Illinois was back on December 6, and you just know Barnes has been digging into his team and getting them prepped to come out strong at home against a higher ranked team.
Look for the Vols to be fresh, well prepared and highly motivated. Fueled by a hungry home crowd, I expect Tennessee to snap its winning streak at home on Tuesday.
