2 Best College Basketball Bets and Player Props for Kentucky vs. Tennessee

Third time's the charm, right?

After dropping both regular-season matchups, Tennessee now faces Kentucky in the Round of 16 of the Men's College Basketball Tournament.

This time, the Vols are favored by 4.5 with both teams having handled comfortable victories in the opening two rounds of the tournament.

Can Kentucky complete the three-peat, or does Tennessee finally convert?

We'll dig into all of that, laying out my favorite bets for the rematch here.

To see thoughts on other games, check out our full men's college basketball tournament predictions page. But for Kentucky vs. Tennessee, here are my favorite bets in FanDuel Sportsbook's college basketball betting odds.

Betting Picks for Kentucky vs. Tennessee

Total Over 144.5 (-112)

To me, the biggest takeaway from the first two matchups isn't that Kentucky is the better team; it's that these two can produce a lot of points if Tennessee hits some shots.

Those first two matchups produced 151 and 139 points. They did that even though Tennessee shot 34.7% from the field in the first game and was 3-of-18 from deep in the second. We should expect some positive regression out of their offense.

Kentucky is a high-tempo team that doesn't play lock-down defense, a big part of why their games featured an average of 162.2 points this year. Tennessee was at just 137.5, but they didn't face many offenses as good as Kentucky's.

We've seen this total come down a point during the week, meaning there's money on the under. However, I think it has come down enough to show value the other direction.

Koby Brea Over 12.5 Points (+102)

Although the market seems skeptical of Koby Brea's recent surge, some underlying data says we can buy in.

The big thing is the minutes load. Since the start of the SEC Tournament, Brea has played at least 33 minutes in each game, up from his season-long average of 27.9. That's a big part of why his season-long point total of 11.8 per game shouldn't scare us here.

This is also a good stylistic matchup for Brea. Almost 70% of his field-goal attempts this year have been threes, and a whopping 45.2% of the field goal attempts against Tennessee have been from deep, per Bart Torvik; the nation-wide average is 39.0%.

When you combine Brea's increased minutes with his willingness to chuck it, backing the over makes plenty of sense.

You can also click here to get our updated printable Men's College Basketball Tournament bracket for the Round of 16.

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Which bets stand out to you for the upcoming games? Check out FanDuel Sportsbook's latest men's college basketball betting odds to see the full menu of options.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.