Kentucky vs. Tennessee game time, TV channel, online stream, odds, predictions

Kentucky Wildcats (7-13) at Tennessee Volunteers (15-5)

• Game Time: 1 pm ET on Saturday, February 20th.
• Location: Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee.
• TV Channel: CBS will broadcast Round 2 of Kentucky - Tennessee.
• Announcers: Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel will call today’s action.
• Online Stream: CBS Sports Online and fuboTV (free trial).
• Radio: Tom Leach and Mike Pratt will have the UK radio network call on 630 AM, 98.1 FM in Lexington and on the UK Sports Network.
• Satellite Radio: XM: 383 | SiriusXM: 973
• Replay: SEC Network (check local listings).
• Rosters: UK | UT
• Last Game Box Scores: UK | UT
• Stats to Know: UK | UT
• Odds: Tennessee opened as a 7-point favorite via Vegas Insider. The line is now 7.5. ESPN’s matchup predictor gives the Cats just a 16.2% chance of winning, while KenPom gives them a 25% chance of winning in Knoxville.
• Predictions: KenPom predicts a 68-61 victory for the Vols. TeamRankings is going with a 72-64 Vols win, while numberFire has Tennessee winning 76-67.

The Kentucky Wildcats are coming off of back-to-back wins for the first time in over a month, and now they have to travel to Tennessee to play the Volunteers in Thompson-Boling Arena. It will be a tall task to win against a strong team in a place where Kentucky has lost four of the last five.

While Kentucky’s season has certainly seemed like a bust, Tennessee is not exactly exceeding expectations either. The Volunteers were predicted to come in and win the SEC and be a national title contender, but they have failed to show the potential that pretty much everyone sees when looking at their roster.

The the first meeting between these two teams, which took place in Lexington, the Wildcats seemed on a roll behind Keion Brooks’ 23 points. They had 10 point lead with under 12 minutes remaining but slowly melted as the Volunteers came back to win by double digits.

Like many games this season, the lack of offensive execution was the catalyst for the collapse against Tennessee. The Volunteers changed their defensive approach on Brooks, and Kentucky did not have another player step up to get buckets when the Cats needed one. It is also of note that this was the last game that Dontaie Allen played 10 or more minutes.

While Kentucky was led in scoring by their only returner, a pair of freshmen handled the lions share of Tennessee offense in that first meeting. Freshmen Keon Johnson (27) and Jaden Springer (23) scored 61% of their teams’ points.

Again, the Vols had a lot of points off of turnovers. But there was also no answer on the defensive end for Tennessee’s young duo.

Coming into Saturday’s game, the Wildcats have won two in a row and would love to steal their third in a row on the road. The Volunteers have gone 2-1 as well since the first matchup between these two teams, with their only loss coming on the road at LSU. In fact, Tennessee has not lost at home since January 23rd.

Kentucky will have to score to keep up with the Volunteers, and they have averaged over 80 points per game in their last three outings. Will the Wildcats be able to put a complete game together and take down the Vols on the road? Tip-off is at 1 p.m. on Saturday.