Tennessee and Iowa State will clash in a Sweet 16 battle on Friday night in Chicago, IL. The 2-seed Cyclones and the 6-seed Volunteers will meet at 10:10 p.m. ET with a spot in the Elite Eight up for grabs.
Tennessee reached this point in the tournament by beating 11-seed Miami (OH) and 3-seed Virginia in the first and second rounds. Iowa State, meanwhile, got through 15-seed Tennessee State and 7-seed Vanderbilt to reach the second weekend of the tournament.
Despite some key injury uncertainty for the Cyclones, Iowa State enters the game as a point betting favorite. The over/under is currently set at for the contest.
The big question for Iowa State is whether they’ll have star forward Joshua Jefferson back for the Sweet 16. Jefferson suffered an injury in the first round against Tennessee State and did not play in the following game against Kentucky. His status appears to be a game-time decision on Friday.
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Tennessee, meanwhile, isn’t dealing with anything out of the ordinary from an injury perspective. Star freshman Nate Ament is still banged up from a late regular-season injury, but he doesn’t have any notable designation on the Sweet 16 injury report. Tennessee’s only player listed is Cade Phillips, who has been out with injury for the majority of the season.
ESPN Analytics gives the Cyclones a 60.6% chance to win Friday’s game against the Vols. The winner between the two will go on to face the winner of (1) Michigan/(4) Alabama on Sunday afternoon in Chicago.
Tennessee and Iowa State will square off at 10:10 p.m. ET. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for on-site coverage of the game.
