The 9^th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers will travel to Madison, Wisconsin to face the Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center in an SEC vs Big Ten matchup on Friday night with the game scheduled to start at 9:00 PM ET and will air on the Peacock App.

The Tennessee Volunteers were one of the top teams in the SEC last season as they finished the season with a record of 25-11 and an SEC conference record of 11-7 which led to a tie for 4^th place in the conference during the regular season. Despite being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament by the Missouri Tigers by a score of 71-79 after defeating the Ole Miss Rebels in the 2^nd round by a score of 70-55 the Tennessee Volunteers made the NCAA tournament as a 4 seed and made it to the Sweet 16 by defeating the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in the 1^st round by a score of 58-55 and the Duke Blue Devils in the 2^nd round by a score of 65-52 before losing in the Sweet 16 against the Florida Atlantic Owls by a score of 55-62. This season the Volunteers are projected to be the 2^nd best team in the SEC only behind the Kentucky Wildcats and are +325 to win the regular season in the SEC. Tennessee will face a tough test on Friday night when they travel to face the Wisconsin Badgers.

Wisconsin failed to make the NCAA tournament last season which was the first time they failed to make the tournament since the 2017-18 season, however, they were invited to play in the NIT and made it to the Semifinals of the NIT after defeating the Bradley Braves in the 1^st round by a score of 81-62, the Liberty Flames in the 2^nd round by a score of 75-71, and the Oregon Ducks in the Quarterfinals by a score of 61-58 before losing in the Semifinals against the North Texas Mean Green by a score of 54-56. The Badgers finished the season with a record of 20-15, however, they had a losing record in the Big Ten with a conference record of 9-11 which led to a tie for 11^th place in the conference and were eliminated early in the Big Ten Conference tournament against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the 1^st round by a score of 57-65. This season, the Badgers are +1600 to win the regular season in the Big Ten Conference and will already face one of the best teams on their non-conference schedule when they host the Tennessee Volunteers.

BookMaker has the Tennessee Volunteers listed as 2.5-point favorites on the road against the Wisconsin Badgers on Friday night. Wisconsin has won the last three games in the series and has won by an average margin of 11.67 points per game in those contests while going 2-1 ATS in the last three meetings. The Tennessee Volunteers are 1-0 ATS overall and 1-0 ATS as a favorite this season while the Wisconsin Badgers are 1-0 ATS overall and 1-0 ATS at home on the year.

Tennessee enters this game ranked 9^th in college basketball, however, they have struggled in the series against Wisconsin having lost the last three meetings while going 1-2 ATS in those contests. The Volunteers are projected to be one of the best teams in the SEC this season while the Badgers are projected to be a middle-of-the-pack team in the Big Ten. As a result, I am buying the .5 point and taking the Tennessee Volunteers -2 on the road against the Wisconsin Badgers.