Tennessee vs Oregon State: 2021 NCAA Tournament preview, predictions
By Matt Melton
When: 4:30 pm ET, Friday, March 19, on TNT
Location: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
March Madness has arrived, and we have an intriguing Round of 64 matchup where the 5-seed Tennessee Volunteers will face the 12-seed Pac-12 Tournament Champion Oregon State Beavers.
The Tennessee Volunteers finished the regular season at 18-8 overall, 10-7 in the SEC. The Volunteers have looked up-and-down at times this season after being the preseason pick to win the SEC, but make no mistake, Tennessee has all the talent needed to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee won’t necessarily blow you away with their offense, but their defense is elite. The Volunteers display the #4 defense in the country, allowing only 63.2 PPG to opponents this season. Tennessee can beat you in many different ways with seven different players averaging 8+ PPG, and if players such as Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson can get going as they did in the SEC Tournament, the Vols are capable of beating anyone.
Meanwhile, Oregon State got hot at the right time as they won the Pac-12 Tournament for the first time ever to clinch an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
The Beavers head into March Madness with a 17-12 overall record, but won’t necessarily overly-impressive you with anything in particular. Oregon State has one of the worst-rated defenses of the 64 teams remaining in the field, while they only average 70.7 PPG. The Beavers are led by guard Ethan Thompson who averages 15.3 PPG on 40.5% shooting, and Oregon State is a good free-throw shooting team (75.8%), which could come into play this time of year.
This will be the first meeting between the Volunteers and Beavers since 1990, and this has all the makings of a dominant Tennessee showing. The Volunteers come in as a clear favorite and are the better team top to bottom with far more depth than Oregon State.
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One thing to monitor however is the availability of Tennessee’s John Fulkerson, who suffered an injury in the SEC Tournament. Look for Tennessee to come out and impose their will early on defense, and cruise to a First Round victory.
Prediction: Tennessee 75, Oregon State 63