The No. 23 Tennessee Volunteers will take on the Butler Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday at Imperial Arena in Nassau for the 2022 Battle 4 Atlantis. Tennessee went 27-8 a season ago and is off to a 2-1 start this year while Butler went 14-19 but is 3-1 in the first season of Thad Matta's second stint as head coach. Matta is back after taking Butler to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in his lone season as head coach in 2000-2001 while Rick Barnes is in his eighth year as head coach for Tennessee.
Butler is 3-1 against the spread this season while Tennessee is 1-2 against the number. The Volunteers are favored by 7 points in the latest Tennessee vs. Butler odds from Caesars Sportsbook and the over/under is set at 135. Before you make any Butler vs. Tennessee picks, you'll want to see the college basketball predictions from the model at SportsLine.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every Division I college basketball game 10,000 times. Over the past six-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated more than $1,400 for $100 players on its top-rated college basketball picks against the spread. Anybody who has followed it has seen profitable returns.
Now, the model has set its sights on Tennessee vs. Butler. You can head to SportsLine to see its picks. Here are several college basketball odds for Butler vs. Tennessee:
- Tennessee vs. Butler spread: Tennessee -7
- Tennessee vs. Butler over/under: 135 points
- Tennessee vs. Butler money line: Tennessee -340, Butler +270
- Tennessee vs. Butler picks: See picks here
What you need to know about Tennessee
The Volunteers took a tough loss to Colorado in Nashville 10 days ago where they shot just 25.4% from the floor. But they managed to take care of business with victories of more than 30 points against Tennessee Tech and FGCU. Olivier Nkamhoua and Josiah-Jordan James both had 18 points in the 81-50 win over FGCU last week.
Defensively, Tennessee has forced an average of 18.7 turnovers per game so far this season and that intensity has been a hallmark of Barnes' Volunteers. They'll hope to use a deep rotation to apply pressure to a Butler squad that has only gone eight men deep in 2021-22.
What you need to know about Butler
Butler struggled mightily despite returning over 97% of its scoring last season and that led to LaVall Jordan being shown the door. Now Matta, who went to two Final Fours with Ohio State and has made 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, has taken over and appears to have instilled confidence.
Matta's five starters are all averaging at least 12.5 points per game on the season with returning contributors Chuck Harris, Jayden Taylor and Simas Lukosius all averaging at least 14.3 points per game. Meanwhile, Purdue transfer Eric Hunter Jr. and NC State transfer Manny Bates have fit in well and lead the team in assists and rebounds, respectively.
How to make Butler vs. Tennessee picks
The model has simulated Tennessee vs. Butler 10,000 times and the results are in. The model is leaning Under and it's also generated a point-spread pick that is hitting in well over 50% of simulations. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.
So who wins Tennessee vs. Butler? And which side of the spread hits well over 50% percent of the time? Visit SportsLine to see which side of the Butler vs. Tennessee spread to jump on, all from the advanced model that is up over $1,400 on its college basketball picks the last six years, and find out.
