Tennessee basketball opens as favorite over Kentucky in Sweet 16

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Published Mar 24, 2025

Tennessee basketball opens as favorite over Kentucky in Sweet 16

Noah Taylor • VolReport

Managing Editor

@ByNoahTaylor

Tennessee will add a unique chapter to its storied basketball rivalry with Kentucky at Lucas Oil Stadium on Friday.

The Vols and Wildcats will meet for the third time this season, this time with both of their seasons on the line in the Sweet 16 (7:39 p.m. ET, TBS/TruTv).

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It will make the first time that the two teams have played each other in the NCAA Tournament, and 2-seed Tennessee (29-7), which lost the previous two meetings to 3-seed Kentucky (24-11) the regular season, opens as the favorite.

The Vols are a 4.5-point favorite, according to FanDuel, with the sports book setting the over/under at 146.5.

Tennessee is projected to win, 76-71 according to KenPom.

The Vols clinched their third-straight Sweet 16 berth and 11th in program history with a 67-58 triumph of 7-seed UCLA in the Second Round at Rupp Arena in Lexington last Saturday.

Chaz Lanier scored 20 points, breaking the Tennessee single-season record for made 3-pointers set by Chris Lofton in 2007-08, in the process.

The Wildcats beat 6-seed Illinois, 84-75 in the Second Round in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Kentucky shot 50% from the perimeter in its two regular season clashes with Tennessee, while the Vols struggled keeping pace by shooting 24.4% from deep in the first meeting on Jan. 28 in Knoxville and 16.7% in the second on Feb. 11 in Lexington.

The Vols averaged 42% shooting in its First and Second Round games. Lanier is averaging 24.5 points per game in the tournament.

The winner of Tennessee-Kentucky will face either 1-seed Houston or 4-seed Purdue in the Elite Eight.

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