The No. 4 seed Tennessee Volunteers (23-10, 12-8 SEC) take on the No. 13 seed Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (26-7, 16-5 Sun Belt) Thursday at Amway Center in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Louisiana beat the South Alabama Jaguars 71-66 at Pensacola Bay Center on March 6 in the Sun Belt Conference Tourney Championship, their fifth consecutive win.
Themus Fulks was the key player with 23 points. Tennessee lost in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tourney on Friday at Bridgestone Arena, falling to the Missouri Tigers 79-71. Santiago Vescovi had 17 points in defeat to lead the team.
The Volunteers took the last meeting between the teams 87-65 at Thompson-Boling Arena in November 2018.Jordan Brown is averaging 19.4 points per game to lead the Ragin’ Cajuns in scoring this season.
Brown also has grabbed 8.7 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, Fulks is dishing 5.9 assists. Vescovi (11.8 ppg) and Olivier Nkamhoua (10.6) have powered the Volunteers’ offense.
Nkamhoua also has pulled down 5.0 rebounds per game. Zakai Zeigler has doled out 4.9 assists per game. The Volunteers are the nation’s top team for defensive efficiency, while the Ragin’ Cajuns rank 22nd in offensive efficiency.
Louisiana is 7-3 in the last 10 games with an average margin of +4.5 (72.6-68.1). For the season, the Ragin’ Cajuns are averaging 78.0 points per game, compared to 69.8 for opponents.
Tennessee has gone 4-6 over the last 10, scoring 70.6 points per game on average while allowing 66.0 (+4.6 margin). The Volunteers are averaging 71.8 ppg for the full season while allowing 58.0.
RAGIN’ CAJUNS HOT/COLD
(Last Five | Season Average | Differential)
Points + Rebounds + Assists:
Greg Williams Jr.: 10.8 | 17.9 | -7.1
Points per game:
Greg Williams Jr.: 7.8 | 13.1 | -5.3
Rebounds per game:
Jordan Brown: 11.6 | 8.7 | +2.9
Assists per game:
Themus Fulks: 3.6 | 5.9 | -2.3
VOLUNTEERS HOT/COLD
(Last Five | Season Average | Differential)
Points + Rebounds + Assists:
Josiah-Jordan James: 17.0 | 10.5 | +6.5
Zakai Zeigler: 5.8 | 17.1 | -11.3
Points per game:
Santiago Vescovi: 14.8 | 11.8 | +3.0
Zakai Zeigler: 3.0 | 9.7 | -6.7
Rebounds per game:
Jonas Aidoo: 3.0 | 4.7 | -1.7
Assists per game:
Santiago Vescovi: 3.6 | 2.7 | +0.9
Zakai Zeigler: 2.4 | 4.9 | -2.5
SportsTips’ College Basketball Pick:
Louisiana +11.5 (-110)
Want up to a $1K risk free bet for this pick?
Claim with 
today!
If you need more news, information and predictions, head over to our college basketball hub page for all your college basketball needs!
*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.
