Illinois at Tennessee odds: Win probability, final score prediction for Fighting Illini, Volunteers

Two of college hoops’ premier orange powerhouses meet in Knoxville today, where Tennessee desperately looks for a quality win against a surging Illinois team.

The Volunteers were coming off three straight losses coming into this week having dropped Maui Invitational games against Purdue and Kansas before facing defeat again on the road vs. a North Carolina team that went nuclear offensively. Meanwhile, Illinois has just one loss against a great Marquette team and just advanced to 7-1 with wins over Rutgers and FAU.

Ahead of this high-profile non-conference bout between SEC and Big Ten contenders, take a look at all of the points spreads and predictions.

Odds for Illinois at Tennessee

For this noon matchup in Thompson-Boling Arena, the folks at FanDuel have set the line at -6.5 towards Tennessee. The Volunteers are 6.5-point favorites and -295 on the money line to defeat the Illini.

As for Illinois, they’re the 6.5-point underdogs while sitting at +235 on the money line on the road and topple Tennessee, who hasn’t suffered any of their three losses at home. Lastly, the over/under for the ball game is set at 145.5 points.

Final score predictions for Illinois at Tennessee

According to our good buddy KenPom, Tennessee is the favorite to win vs. Illinois, but not by as much as FanDuel has. Per KP’s numbers, the Vols are five-point favorites projected to win 76-71. They also possess a 67% chance to win, roughly two-thirds.

That projected score from KenPom would suggest that bettors take the over on the game as a whole since that final score is 147 points, while they’d like Illinois to cover as they have the Illini losing by just five, 1.5 points under the line.

Meanwhile, ESPN’s BPI, the Basketball Power Index, also has Tennessee coming away victorious. It foresees a win by 6.9 points for the Volunteers and gives them a 73.3% chance to win the game overall.

Illinois is clearly the underdog un this one and are favored to lose by art least five points according to virtually every outlet who assigns spreads or predicts games. Brad Underwood is apparently going to need some magic to pull off the victory this afternoon.

How to Watch Illinois at Tennessee

Time: 12:00 noon ET / 11:00 a.m. CT
Channel: (CBS), FuboTV (streaming)
Location: Knoxville, TN

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Well, there’s the skinny on Illinois vs. Tennessee as we get ready to tip at high noon between these two orange contenders in the national college basketball landscape. The Volunteers are clearly favored to get back on track and finally land a win worth celebrating, while there’s pessimism across the board that Illinois can pull off a second massive win this week after toppling FAU a few days ago.