Tennessee vs Missouri Odds, Lines, and Spread

• The Tennessee Volunteers (6-0) travel to Columbia, Missouri, to take on the Missouri Tigers (5-3) at Mizzou Arena at 9:00 PM ET on Wednesday, Dec. 30th
• Neither team has lost a game this season
• See the odds, spread, analysis, and best bet, below

Two undefeated teams will take the floor Wednesday Night when the Tennessee Volunteers visit the Missouri Tigers. The Volunteers boat raced winless USC Upstate 80-60 in their last game. Meanwhile, the Tigers barely escaped a hungry Bradley team 54-53 the last time their laced up their sneakers.

The Volunteers have won each of the last three meetings between the two schools including a 69-59 smackdown in the last one on January 7, 2020. Tennessee is favored by two points in this matchup.

Tennessee vs Missouri Odds

Odds as of December 29th at FanDuel.

Tennessee Is A Wagon

After having their season delayed due to Covid-19 concerns, the Volunteers have wasted no time in cementing themselves as one of the nation’s top teams. They’ve held opponents to 36.2% shooting which is good for ninth in the nation in that metric. According to KenPom, they are third best in defensive efficiency which is a big reason for their early success. This team seems to be as focused on defense as any team in the nation so far and they are climbing the polls as a result.

Tennessee Basketball moves up to No. 7 in the latest AP Poll. pic.twitter.com/N1fmYAuNQA

— More Important Issues (@More_Issues) December 28, 2020

The Volunteers haven’t been in a game ended closer than 20 points since a December 8th win over Colorado which could be a cause for a concern. In fact none of the last three teams Tennessee has played has even won a game yet this season. Still, it says a lot for the program that their last game was defined as a “struggle” when they won by 20 points and were clearly a dominant team. But they will have to turn it up a notch now that conference play is starting.

Missouri Is No Tomato Can

The Tigers’ early season schedule has been the exact opposite of the Volunteers’ as they seem to play a top flight program every game. They beat number 21 Oregon 83-78 on December second in a makeup game after Boston College had to cancel. Ten days later, they beat a then ranked number six Illinois team 81-78. Xavier Pinson is the leader of this bunch and is pacing the team in scoring with 14.3 points per game.

XAVIER PINSON PUT HIM ON A POSTER 😤 pic.twitter.com/gsUb86U9tv

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) January 12, 2020

Missouri did survive a scare the last time their took the floor against Bradley only winning 54-53. It took a free throw in the final second on an and-one opportunity from Jeremiah Tilmon to ultimately seal the deal. Pinson led the team with 15 points and assisted on the basket that sent Tilmon to the charity stripe for the win.

Best Betting Angle

While Missouri has played an impressive schedule, the end of their undefeated streak is imminent. It starts with offense as the Tigers just don’t have the shooting that it will take to hang in this one. They are 147th out of 332 teams in the country with an effective field goal percentage of 50.3. Scoring the ball could be an issue for the Tigers.

Only 14 teams in the nation are better in terms of defensive effective field goal percentage than Tennessee this season. They can smother even the best shooters. Because of this they are number three in the nation according to KenPom in defensive efficiency. Missouri may have beaten Illinois and Oregon, but neither one of those teams compare to Tennessee in terms of what they can do defensively. The Volunteers’ offense may not be on par with Illinois, but it won’t have to be to beat Missouri.

Pick: Tennessee Volunteers -2 (-110)