Missouri vs Tennessee NCAAB Betting Odds, Prediction & Expert Insights

It seems like there’s at least one ranked matchup in the SEC nearly every night the league is in action to consider in your NCAAB Betting.

This is the case again as No. 15 Missouri, which is much better than expected, visits No. 4 Tennessee with the Vols as nearly double-digit favorites on the college basketball odds in the Week 14.

Missouri vs Tennessee NCAAB Betting & TV Info

NCAAB Moneylines: Tennessee -476 / Missouri +343
When: Wednesday, 7 PM ET
Where: Food City Center, Knoxville
TV: SEC Network
Stream: ESPN+

Missouri Basketball Insights

The Last Season

Missouri went 0-18 in conference play, becoming the second SEC squadron to go winless in league play during the shot-clock era, which commenced in 1985-86. The only other winless campaign was endured by Vanderbilt, which flunked all 18 tests in 2018-2019.

AP Poll

Yet for the first time since Dennis Gates took the Missouri basketball job, and for the first time in almost exactly four years, Missouri basketball has cracked the teens in the coaches poll. Since Gates took the helm in the spring of 2022, the Tigers’ highest ranking in both the coaches and AP poll was No. 20, which is something to consider in your NCAAB betting plan.

Last Game Review

No. 15 Missouri (17-4, 6-2 SEC) enters with back-to-back wins over ranked teams after an incredibly impressive 88-61 victory at No. 14 Mississippi State on Saturday. Missouri closed out the first half with a 12-1 run and led 45-31 at the break. The Tigers shot 52% in the opening half and made 9 of 19 shots from distance. Missouri also outrebounded Mississippi State 20-14 in the first half, including seven offensive boards. Mizzou then used a 15-0 run early in the second half to put the game out of reach as the Tigers broke an eight-game losing streak in road games at Mississippi State.

Chris Jans

“We knew they were a really good basketball team before the ball was tipped,” Mississippi coach Jans told the media after Saturday’s loss. “I told everybody that would listen to me that they’re the best team in the country, not just the SEC, that nobody is talking about.”

Dennis Gates

“The ceiling of our team has not been reached yet,” Gates said this week. “I truly believe that there’s another level or two that we can go to. I’ve mentioned it before in the past, and sometimes you guys think I’m just making statements, but I really do mean that because I base it off the potential that I see every day in practice, but also the group of men that we have in our locker room. They’ve done a tremendous job over their careers, but also in this short time since June of our gathering, where we started working on team building. So when it comes down to our potential, we have not yet reached it.”

Caleb Grill

Graduate student Grill was terrific with 20 points to lead the Tigers. Entering the weekend as the nation’s top 3-point shooter, Grill made 6-of-11 from 3-point range and 7-of-12 overall in the winning effort. Classmate Josh Gray added his first double-double of the season, scoring a season-best 10 points to go with 11 rebounds. Tamar Bates added 14 points in the victory, while Tony Perkins paced the Mizzou attack with five assists.

Against Ranked Teams

It was Missouri’s largest margin of victory over a ranked team on the road in program history – it more than doubled the previous best total for Mizzou on the road against a ranked team with the previous high of 13 coming in 1956 against No. 17 Kansas State, 85-72 — and its fourth win over an AP Top 25-ranked opponent this season. Overall, the Tigers have had a halftime lead in 17-of-21 games this season. MU is 16-1 with an advantage at the break and 1-3 when trailing.

It was also the 100th career win for Coach Dennis Gates, collecting 50 at Cleveland State from 2019 to 2022 and 50 at Mizzou the last three seasons.

Tamar Bates

Senior Bates leads three Tigers in double-figure scoring with 13.5 points, followed by Grill (13.2) and Mark Mitchell (12.8). Gray has a team-best 5.1 rebounds, while Anthony Robinson II leads MU with 3.6 assists. Mizzou is 16th nationally with a scoring offense of 83.4 and 13th with a scoring margin of +14.8. They are the first power conference team in the last 30 years to average eight made 3-pointers and 20 made free throws per game. The 6-2 start to league play is Mizzou’s best-ever start through eight SEC games.

Tennessee Basketball Insights

Last Game Review

No. 4 Tennessee (18-4, 5-4 SEC) snapped a two-game skid with a 64-44 home win over No. 5 Florida on Saturday even though the Vols were playing without starters Zakai Zeigler (knee) and Igor Milicic Jr. (illness). Walter Clayton Jr. scored 10 for the Gators in the first half before injuring his left ankle. He reinjured it in the second half. The Gators shot 6 of 26 in the second half.

1st Half

Tennessee took the lead at the end of the first half when Cade Phillips and Darlinstone Dubar had back-to-back blocks before Lanier drilled a 3-pointer. Clayton went down with a left ankle injury with 1:07 left and that changed the game as from the end of the first half to the first few minutes of the second, Tennessee had a 14-2 run that put the Vols ahead 30-21.

Chaz Lanier

Fifth-year guard Lanier scored a game-high 19 points for the Volunteers, who improved to 7-1 all-time in AP top-10 home matchups, including 4-0 under head coach Rick Barnes, who also moved to 6-0 at home against AP top-five foes in Knoxville. Jordan Gainey scored 16 points and led all players in assists (five), minutes (37) and steals (three), setting season highs—and new top marks as a Volunteer—in each of the former two categories.

Rick Barnes

“I’m as proud of these guys as any team since I’ve been here because of the way that they prepared for it and believed that they knew they could go out and get a win,” Barnes said.

Against AP Ranked Teams

Tennessee is now the first program in SEC history to win six consecutive home games against AP top-five foes. The decision, the Volunteers’ largest ever versus an AP top-five team, snapped Florida’s 1,167-game streak of scoring 45-plus points. UT held Florida to just 24.5 percent (13-of-53) shooting, including 14.8 percent (4-of-27) beyond the arc. The former is the first time the Gators finished below 25.0 percent in the last 20 seasons (2005-25), with the only other time they were under even 26.0 percent in that stretch on Dec. 15, 2007. The latter figure was the program’s lowest since March 17, 2024.

“We have been amazing all year offensively and Tennessee made us look terrible,” Gators coach Todd Golden said.

UT has now played four consecutive games versus AP top-15 foes, its first such stretch ever, as well as five straight home games against AP top-25 teams. The Volunteers improved to 33-25 (.569) in AP top-25 clashes under Barnes, including 18-5 (.783) at home and 5-3 (.625) in 2024-25 – could be a great trend to consider in the NCAAB betting-.

Saturday marked the first time in 2024-25 the Volunteers changed their starting lineup, as the same five were on the floor for the opening tip in each of the first 21 contests.

Zakai Zeigler

Zeigler’s absence snapped a 51-game starting streak that dated to Nov. 29, 2023, at North Carolina and led to the first starting lineup change this season for Tennessee. Prior to Saturday, the only six games Zeigler had missed in his career were the final six contests of the 2022-23 season after tearing his left ACL. He is expected back for this one. The stellar defender is averaging 12.3 points and 7.4 assists.

Zeigler (628) is just five assists shy of Mississippi State’s Dee Bost (633 from 2008-12) for a top-10 spot in SEC history. The five assists would also put him top-10 on UT’s single-season chart and give him three of the program’s top 12 marks. Milicic also should return Wednesday. The 6-foot-10 senior is averaging 10.4 points and 8.1 rebounds.

UT has a 13-5 (.722) mark when hosting AP top-15 squads under Barnes, including an 11-2 (.846) record in its last 13 such games. Over the last four seasons, the Vols are 56-5 at home overall.

NCAAB betting Missouri vs Tennessee: Last Meeting

This is their only scheduled meeting this season. They only met once last year as well when Missouri was one of the worst teams in the country and didn’t win a single SEC game. But the Tigers played well at home vs. No. 5 Tennessee before losing 72-67. Tobe Awaka had 18 points and 10 rebounds, Jonas Aidoo added 14 points and Zakai Zeigler 10 for the Vols, who rallied from a seven-point hole. Missouri got into foul trouble in the second half, losing big man Jordan Butler to fouls with 10 minutes to go.

Since the Tigers joined the SEC in 2012-13, the Volunteers are 10-6 in the series. The two sides are meeting as AP top-25 foes for the fourth time, with Missouri owning a 2-1 mark in the prior three contests. This is the third AP top-20 clash, with the schools splitting the previous two games, both in 2020-21.

POLL ALERT: Auburn, Duke remain 1-2 atop AP Top 25, SEC has 9 teams in poll; Maryland makes 1st poll appearance since February 2023.

Full poll: https://t.co/ZJG5mgWrsa pic.twitter.com/Ortb6Mk5aT

— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) February 3, 2025

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