Posted at 12:00 PM EST. Odds subject to change.

Pinnacle -108 BET365  -110 Sportsinteraction  -110  888Sport  -110

Rupp Arena, Lexington, KY

Tennessee -108 over Kentucky

Streaming: ESPN

8:30 PM EST. These two SEC powers are coming off losses in their last games, but it is the Volunteers who are taking the heat after losing 63-58 at home to South Carolina on Tuesday night. Tennessee was called out by its coach, Rick Barnes, for their perceived lack of focus and effort in that game. Nobody likes to be called out publicly, but Barnes has been doing this so long that he knows what button to press. We cannot predict whether or not the Vols are going to win today, but we do know that they are not likely going to lack effort or focus

Prior to losing to South Carolina, the Vols had won four in a row against their SEC brothers, knocking off Vanderbilt, Alabama (8th), Florida (32), and Georgia (71). Tennessee is now 5-2 in the SEC and 15-5 overall, and they got there by playing a meat grinder of a non-conference schedule that ranks 25th in the nation of 362 graded Division I teams. Of their five losses, three of them came against ranked competition in then #2 Purdue, then #1 Kansas, and then #17 North Carolina, where the Vols lost by four, nine, and eight points, respectively. Tennessee has a number of quality wins, including those over then #20 Illinois, and then #22 Ole Miss, as well as Wisconsin (11th), Syracuse (83), and N.C. State (78th).

Kentucky dropped an overtime decision at home to Florida on Wednesday, but before that, they went on a run, winning eight of 10 games, but the Wildcats have been feasting on cupcakes to pad that schedule. Kentucky is 15-4, but their sweet tooth got the best of them with lame wins over Texas A&M Commerce (315), Stonehill (357), Marshall (192), Pennsylvania (194), and Illinois State (215).

The Wildcats opened as a small +1½-point home underdog, but that number caught the eye of the market, as this game is either a pick 'em or the Wildcats are favored, depending on the outfit. However, there is a damn good reason the oddsmakers made the Vols road chalk in Lexington, and it’s because they are the far superior side. The Wildcats are ranked #10 in the polls, but they are overvalued because of that, as they sit 24th in the power rankings. Not bad, but not elite, and not better than Tennessee (sixth in the power ranks), who is elite. This is not the 50/50 proposition that is being presented. The Vols are superior to the Wildcats in every conceivable way.

Sherwood

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