The Tennessee Volunteers take on the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman, Oklahoma. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Tennessee is favored by 5 points on the spread with a moneyline of -218. The total is set at 138.5 points.
Here are my Tennessee vs. Oklahoma predictions and college basketball picks for February 8, 2025.
Tennessee vs Oklahoma Prediction
My Pick: PASS | Lean Oklahoma +5.5
My Tennessee vs Oklahoma best bet is on the Sooners spread, with the best odds currently available at BetRivers. For all of your college basketball bets, find the best lines using our live NCAAB odds page.
Tennessee vs Oklahoma Odds
| Tennessee Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-5 -110 | 138.5 -110 / -110 | -218 |
| Oklahoma Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+5 -110 | 138.5 -110 / -110 | +180 |
- Tennessee vs Oklahoma spread: Tennessee -5
- Tennessee vs Oklahoma over/under: 138.5 points
- Tennessee vs Oklahoma moneyline: Tennessee -218, Oklahoma +180
- Tennessee vs Oklahoma best bet: PASS | Lean Oklahoma +5.5
Spread
I'm passing on this game altogether. But if I had to bet it, I'd take the points with the home pup.
Moneyline
I'm passing on the moneyline.
Over/Under
I'm passing on the total.
My Pick: PASS | Lean Oklahoma +5.5
Tennessee vs Oklahoma College Basketball Betting Preview
Rocky Top had a great last week, taking down Florida and Missouri at home despite being shorthanded (no Zakai Zeigler against the Gators).
That said, Saturday is a good letdown spot for the Vols.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma is in a decent bounce-back spot, returning home after two KenPom top-15 road losses in the past three games (to Texas A&M and Auburn).
For what it’s worth, Porter Moser has always had some underdog magic. The Sooners are 8-3 ATS as home pups since he took over the head coaching role in the 2021-22 season, covering by an average of four points per game.
If you’re looking for more reasons to back the Sooners, Tennessee’s offense is still very limited. Rick Barnes’ flex-motion offense is a reasonably easy scout, and there aren’t many playmakers to throw in adjustments.
The Vols are shooting under 45% from the interior in SEC play, so they’re overly reliant on Chaz Lanier and Jordan Gainey hitting above-the-break 3s coming around floppy screens — and of course, we’ve seen them go through miserable shooting slumps in SEC play.
The Sooners are a good 3-point defense, ranking 27th nationally in low-quality 3s forced (per ShotQuality), so I imagine it’ll be challenging for the Vols to generate half-court offense.
That said, Oklahoma’s defense is Charmin soft at the rim, and the Vols could own the rim with their patented flex-cuts.
But more importantly, the Volunteers could obliterate the Sooners in the shot-volume battle by crushing the rebounding and turnover battles.
Oklahoma is arguably the SEC’s worst two-way rebounding team. At the same time, Tennessee has generated key second-chance offense behind Igor Milicic Jr. and Felix Okpara’s offensive rebounding prowess (13 second-chance points per game, 90th percentile, per CBB Analytics).
Oklahoma is a dangerous spread pick-and-roll offense behind the uber-talented Jeremiah Fears (questionable, undisclosed), and the Sooners could beat the Volunteers’ aggressive on-ball pressure by spreading them out and scoring over the top.
However, I’m worried about Fears getting the ball to his secondary creators, given he’s a freshman guard with some turnover issues — Oklahoma ranks 14th in the SEC in offensive turnover rate (20%, per KenPom). You can’t be sloppy with the ball against Tennessee’s dominant gap defense.
Ultimately, I like the spot for Oklahoma and I don’t trust Tennessee’s offense on the road, so I lean toward the Sooners in this spot.
However, I don’t think I can make the wager. The Sooners would have to shoot the lights out from 3 to overcome their shot-volume deficiencies.
