Posted at 10:00 AM EST. Odds subject to change.

Pinnacle +6½ -105 BET365 +6½ -110 Sportsinteraction +6½ -110   888Sport +6½ -110 

Texas +6½ over Tennessee 

Spectrum Center - Charlotte, NC

Men's Basketball Championship - Midwest Region - 2nd Round

Streaming: CBS

8:00 PM EST. There is so much going on here that we are going to just get right to it, as Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes returns to his home state of North Carolina to face a program where he had some more triumphant, and most heartbreaking moments as a head coach. Barnes helped to put the University of Texas (UT) Longhorns basketball program on the map, as he won 402 games over 17 years while at UT. In 16 of his 17 years at Texas, Barnes took the Longhorns to the NCAA Tournament, and only once did he take that team to the Final Four, while also leading the Longhorns twice to the Elite Eight and twice to the Sweet 16. The point is, 11 times Barnes and his Longhorns failed to make it past the opening weekend of the NCAAs.

Barnes has now been at Tennessee for nine years, but the ghosts of March Madness’ past have continued to haunt him in Knoxville, as the Volunteers made The Tournament five times before this year, and twice they went to the Sweet 16, but three other times, they failed to make it past the second game of the weekend. Past failures do not guarantee future stumbles, but coaching matters this time of the year and some bench bosses (who traditionally struggle in March) just cannot get out of their own way (see Bruce Pearl and Auburn yesterday afternoon versus Yale). Perhaps the best part of this reuniting with Texas on the hardwood is that Rodney Terry, Barnes's longtime assistant and one of the coaches who knows him best, is coaching the Longhorns.

As for how we got here, the #2 seeded Vols waffled #15 Saint Peter’s, 83-49 on Thursday evening. We’re not going to dissect that game to bits, as it was about as ugly as they come for St. Pete’s, who shot just 29% from the field and 17% from downtown. By contrast, the Vols were on fire, draining 51% from the field and an otherworldly 46% from beyond the arc. Whether or not that hot shooting continues for Tennessee remains to be seen, but it’s not something that can be counted on.

While everything went right for the Vols on Thursday, #7 Texas struggled after going just 1-14 from three-point land, but the Longhorns played their tenacious brand of defense and held Colorado State, who lit it up in the First Four, to just 29% shooting, including just 11 first-half points. The Rams would make it interesting in the second half, but Texas was able to stop Colorado State’s run and finish that game with an ugly 56-44 win. While that low point total looks ugly on paper, in four of their five games leading into the NCAAs, Texas put up at least 80 points. Just as there is likely to be regression to the Vols' hot shooting, it’s unlikely the Longhorns are going to be ice cold today, but even if they are, they have the defensive prowess to not only keep this one close but win it outright and send coach Barnes home early, again.

Sherwood

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