National Media Predictions for Kentucky vs. Tennessee

Kentucky and Tennessee will collide in a Sweet 16 matchup at Lucas Oil Stadium. You’ve heard the Kentucky Sports Radio crew break down the matchup all week, but what are the national college basketball analysts saying about the game? We’ve got you covered.

ESPN: All Tennessee

Joe Lunardi, Jeff Borzello, and Myron Medcalf predicted every Sweet 16 game. All three picked the Vols, but Lunardi and Medcalf’s final score predictions are each within one score.

“Why Tennessee will win: Kentucky already has beaten Tennessee twice this season. But the Volunteers saw fantastic performances from their guards in the first weekend of the NCAA tournament, with Chaz Lanier totaling 49 points in two games while shooting 10-for-18 from 3-point range and Zakai Zeigler averaging 13.5 points and 9.0 assists,” Borzello writes.

“Tennessee also had its best defensive performance in weeks against UCLA, limiting the Bruins to 58 points and 0.93 points per possession. Kentucky looked great in its pair of tourney wins, especially with Lamont Butler healthy. But Kentucky also went 12-for-24 from 3 in each previous meeting with the Vols; that lofty shooting efficiency could be hard to replicate a third time.”

There is one exception. Seth Greenberg said earlier this week that he believes Kentucky has an edge.

.@SethOnHoops favors Kentucky over Tennessee in the Sweet 16 👀

Who do you have winning? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/8DFMnPIlTI

— ESPN (@espn) March 24, 2025

Seth Davis Joins Andy and Ari

“It’s a cliche in sports, ‘It’s hard to beat a team three times.’ If you’ve already beaten them twice, you’re probably better,” Davis said on the On3 podcast. “So would you rather be the team that won the first two? Or would you rather be the team that lost the first two? It’s actually hard to beat a team once, so if you’ve beaten ’em twice, I’d rather have the team that won those two games.”

With that being said, the part-time CBS Sports analyst isn’t picking Kentucky to take down Tennessee. “I think Tennessee’s the better team. I think they win the game, but certainly, it’ll be close,” said Davis.

Ari Wasserman believes Kentucky will regress to the mean and shoot less than 50%, opening the door for a Tennessee win. But Andy Staples believes styles make fights, and Kentucky has Tennessee’s number.

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CBS: Bad Shooting in the Football Stadium

Kentucky shot 50% from the field in each of the first two matchups against Tennessee. The CBS college basketball analysts believe the Cats won’t be able to keep that up, especially in Lucas Oil Stadium. The consensus is on the under, but a few of the prognosticators believe Kentucky will get the last laugh against Tennessee.

Field of 68: Folks are Sleeping on Tennessee

More Tennessee-Kentucky Predictions

USA Today

• Jeremy Cluff: Tennessee 75, Kentucky 73
• Craig Meyer: Kentucky 70, Tennessee 66
• Mike Wilson: Tennessee 76, Kentucky 68
• Ryan Black: Tennessee 82, Kentucky 78

And I thought Ryan Black was a friend of the program. Sad!

Covers.com (Kentucky +165 Moneyline)

Douglas Farmer crunched the numbers. The math isn’t mathing for the Vols, particularly from behind the three-point line.

“Tennessee’s offense fits into Kentucky’s defense just as the Wildcats would like, emphasizing a Vols’ weakness from long range, while the Wildcats’ offense gets the looks it wants against this orange defense. When the math is this one-sided, the value of a +165 moneyline bet is too delightful to turn down.”

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