UCLA vs Tennessee Opening Odds & Betting Line for Round of 32

• The #7 UCLA Bruins will face the #2 Tennessee Volunteers in the Midwest Region of the March Madness bracket
• Both teams breezed through their first-round matchups
• See the opening UCLA vs Tennessee odds and betting lines for Saturday’s game in Lexington, KY

The chalk held at the bottom of the Midwest Region with the #2 Tennessee Volunteers (28-7, 18-17 ATS) and #7 UCLA Bruins (23-10, 13-7 Big Ten, ATS) both advancing to the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The opening UCLA vs Tennessee odds project the Vols advancing to the Sweet 16 in a low-scoring game. The teams will meet on Saturday, March 22, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY.

Opening UCLA vs Tennessee Odds

Tennessee has opened as a 5.5-point favorite over the Bruins. On the moneyline, the Vols are priced at -245. UCLA has opened as a +200 underdog to advance to the Sweet 16, giving the Bruins just a 33.33% implied win probability. The game total is sitting at a low 128.5 with -110 odds each way in this battle between two slow-paced teams.

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Tennessee is currently a +380 bet in the Final Four odds. The Volunteers are also the +2200 sixth-favorite to win the national championship in the March Madness title odds.

Vols Rout Wofford to Advance

The Volunteers’ first-round game with Wofford was relatively uncomplicated. Tennessee took a nine-point lead into halftime (36-27) on the strength of 14 first-half points from leading scorer Chaz Lanier (17.7 PPG, 3.8 RPG). They stretched it to 15 by the end of 40 minutes and, though they failed to cover the 18.5-point spread, looked to be in another class from the Terriers throughout.

Lanier finished with a game-high 29 points on 50% shooting with diminutive point guard Zakai Zeigler added 12 points and 12 assists.

Tennessee finished the regular season winning seven of nine. The Vols only dropped one game all season to teams ranked outside of KenPom’s top 25 (76-75 at #47 Vanderbilt), which Saturday’s opponent happens to be.

Tennessee played one Big Ten team in the regular season, earning an impressive 66-64 true-road win at Illinois in mid-December. UCLA lost at Illinois (83-78) on February 11. The Bruins didn’t play any SEC competition this year.

UCLA vs TENN Ratings Comparison

Tennessee ranks well ahead of UCLA in Net Rating (5th vs 26th), Offensive Rating (18th vs 36th), and Defensive Rating (3rd vs 17th). Both teams play at a relative crawl, pace-wise, so it’s not a surprise that the game total has opened at such a low number.

UCLA Distances Utah State Early

The #7 Bruins figured to be in for a stiff test from #10 Utah State, but that game proved to be the latest in a long line of Mountain West teams underperforming in the tournament. UCLA built a 12-point lead by halftime and pushed it to 20 seven minutes into the second half. They led by 21 with two minutes remaining at the time of publication.

The well-balanced Bruins received contributions from up and down the lineup. Seven different players scored at least seven points, with Skyy Clark scoring a team-high 14.

UCLA played solid defense in the first round but also benefited from an ice-cold Aggies team that missed 18 straight threes at one point in the game.

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