The No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers and No. 15 Kentucky Wildcats face off Tuesday in a primetime battle of ranked SEC squads. ESPN’s matchup predictor is telling fans that this will be a close game as it has Tennessee sitting at just 53.7% to win the game, Casino Apps takes a look at the stats and see if this matchup is as close as ESPN says it is.
The Volunteers are a very good 17-4 when facing opponents that are above .500 on the season, but Tennessee has struggled a bit in conference play with its 7-4 record in the SEC.
Kentucky is a team that has been dominant at home, sitting at 12-2 when playing in Rupp Arena this year. Meanwhile, Tennessee is just 4-3 on the road this year with all three of its losses coming against SEC opponents.
These are teams that operate under very different philosophies as one is an offensive oriented team and the other prides itself on defense.
Kentucky is a team that averages 86.7 ppg, good for second in the SEC and much better than Tennessee’s average of 74.8 ppg. However, things are flipped on the other side of the ball where Tennessee holds opponents to just 59.3 ppg while Kentucky gives up 76.6 ppg to opponents.
Aside from ppg and opponent ppg, these squads are nearly identical everywhere else statistically. Kentucky shoots 48.5% from the field, slightly better than Tennessee’s 45.2% this season. The Wildcats also hold narrow leads in rebounding and assists, but Tennessee gets that back by leading in steals per game and blocks per game.
It seems like ESPN’s matchup predictor just may be accurate, and if statistics tell us anything, this will be a photo finish in a game that many fans would call “must-watch”.
