Tennessee vs Alabama Odds, Lines, and Spread

• Top-seeded Alabama is a 2.5-point favorite over No. 4 seed Tennessee in the SEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday (March 13th, 12:00 pm ET)
• Alabama hasn’t won the SEC tournament since 1991, while Tennessee hasn’t claimed the league’s auto-bid since 1979
• See below for analysis, odds, and a betting prediction

The top half of the SEC Tournament bracket held true to form on Friday, which means Saturday’s first semifinal will feature No. 1 seed Alabama taking on fourth-seeded Tennessee. ESPN will have full coverage of the contest, which tips off at 12:00 pm ET from inside Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
The two teams met just once in the regular season, with Alabama pulling out a 71-63 road win all the way back on Jan. 2. The Tide won largely thanks to a decided advantage from beyond the arc, where it shot 10-of-20 and where Tennessee was just 4-for-21.
Alabama enters Saturday’s contest as a 2.5-point favorite.

Alabama vs Tennessee Odds

Odds as of March 12 on FanDuel.

The top-seeded Crimson Tide roll into the semifinals on the wings of a dominant 85-48 win over ninth-seeded Mississippi State on Friday. Nate Oats’ team drilled 13 three-pointers, forced 18 turnovers, and held the Bulldogs to 1-of-19 shooting from beyond the arc in a game that was never really in question.
Tennessee, which currently projects as a 5 or 6 seed in most mock brackets, took care of fifth-seeded Florida by a score of 78-66. The Volunteers now have an opportunity to play their way up a seed line or two if they’re able to take care of Alabama on Saturday and (presumably) another quality opponent in the title game on Sunday.

Alabama Looks to Keep Up Hot Shooting

Any thought that Alabama might start this tournament off slow because of its extra time off or early quarterfinal start time got put to bed early on Thursday. The Crimson Tide scorched the nets from the outside right out of the gate and raced out to an overwhelming 39-12 lead that Mississippi State was never able to significantly cut into.

Alabama coach Nate Oats, whose team was up 30 in the first half:

“I think we answered the questions about whether our guys could come out ready to play for an 11 o’clock tip.”

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) March 12, 2021

Seven Alabama players finished the Mississippi State game with at least one made three-pointer. That theme of sharing carried over to the Tide’s stellar ball movement, as they finished with 20 assists on 32 made shots. By contrast, the ‘Bama defense limited the Bulldogs to just 1-of-19 shooting from beyond the arc and held them to only eight assists.

Tennessee Looks to Erase Postseason Woes 

For as much success as Tennessee has had over the years — at least relative to the rest of the country — there’s still a notion that the program hasn’t done enough in the postseason. Despite making it to the second weekend of the Big Dance six times since 2000, the Volunteers have still never played in a Final Four, and their only regional final appearance came in 2010.

Best college basketball program that has never made a Final Four?

— Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) February 10, 2021

Rick Barnes has erased a lot of tired narratives in Knoxville. Upsetting Alabama on Saturday and then taking home the title on Sunday would be a nice step towards bucking the most glaringly negative one.

Best Betting Angle

Starting Alabama guard Josh Primo was forced to leave the Mississippi State game with a knee injury, and even if he is playing in the semifinals on Saturday, he could be limited. Even without Primo, the Tide should have more than enough ammunition to take care of UT for the second time this season and advance to Sunday’s championship game.

So long as they’re fully motivated and not complacent because they appear to be locked into a 2-seed, this should be Alabama’s game to lose.