Opening odds: Tennessee a big favorite over 15-seed Saint Peters

The Tennessee Volunteers are set to take on Saint Peter’s on Thursday, as they open the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The Vols secured a No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region, paired up with No. 1 seed Purdue. Tennessee will start their tournament playing in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Saint Peter’s enters the tournament as the champions of the MAAC. You may remember them from a couple of years ago, where they went on a magical run — also as a No. 15 seed. The Peacocks took down Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue on their way to an Elite Eight appearance.

They’ll have to pull another huge upset on Thursday to kickstart another potential run. Per DraftKings Sportsbook, Tennessee is an 18.5 point favorite over Saint Peter’s.

“I said if I were at Saint Peter’s right now, it’d be the first thing I’d put up right there,” Rick Barnes said on Sunday of the matchup. “Say look what happened, it can be done. And we know it can be done now at every level. I mean, No. 16 seeds beat a No. 1 or No. 15 beat a No. 2. It’s about our focus and getting ready. And you got to go out and play great basketball from here on out. Because if you’re playing this time of year, you’re playing good basketball and even teams like ourselves who lost two in a row.”

Tennessee will be looking to shake off those back to back losses, entering the NCAA Tournament on a bit of a cold snap. The Volunteers dropped their final regular season game against Kentucky at home, then turned around and got bounced out of the SEC Tournament by Mississippi State.

Rick Barnes hopes to stop that bleeding on Thursday and get some new momentum rolling into a potential matchup against his former school, Texas.

First things first though — Saint Peters. We’ll have much more on this matchup throughout the week.

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See DraftKings.com/sportsbook for details.