Tennessee basketball will welcome Illinois to Food City Center this Saturday. The Fighting Illini are 7-2 on the year and will be the Vols' toughest challenge to this point in the year.
Illinois has the potential to be lightning in a bottle offensively and put up big numbers. It scored 90 points in its win over John Calipari's No. 19 Arkansas and 86 points against No. 20 Wisconsin. One of its two losses came to No. 7 Alabama, where it lost 100-87.
The Vols' defense should fare much better than any of those teams. The Crimson Tide has the most talented roster of those three teams, but they shouldn't be better when comparing the numbers than Tennessee's defense. Nonetheless, it will still be a big early-season challenge.
Kasparas Jakucionis is Illinois' leading scorer with 15.4 points per game, shooting 49% from the field. He has led an Illinois offense that ranks near the top in the nation in points per game. They average 86.2 points per game on 44% shooting from the field. In comparison, Tennessee averages 82.4 points per game but on 52% shooting.
Tennessee's defense is better in virtually every category and statistic, but if the Vols' defense slips up, it could be a close game in the final few minutes of the game. If the Vols' defense shows up and plays as usual, it could be another big game for the Vols as they look to march to 10-0 with only three games remaining before the start of conference play.
Surprisingly, the Illini are not ranked, which helps them fly under the radar of the naked eye. Despite being unranked, Illinois is ranked No. 16 in the KenPom rankings. Tennessee's only AP-ranked matchup so far this season was against No. 13 Baylor, but the Vols easily took care of business against the Bears.
This is also Tennessee's biggest road challenge of the season. The only other road game this season has been at Louisville, but the Vols won that game by 22 points, nullifying any home-court advantage the Cardinals hoped to have.
Tennessee and Illinois will tip off at 5:30 PM ET in the matinee spot on FOX. Tennessee is a 1.5-point favorite, with the road environment likely playing a large role in the spread.