The best game of the night in college basketball on Friday could very well be the Creighton vs Tennessee matchup from Detroit. Both of these teams have had a close call in this tournament already, with Creighton needing two overtimes to beat Oregon and Tennessee barely escaping Texas in the second round. That experience could benefit these teams in what should be another close game between the second and third seeds in the Midwest Region.

For Tennessee, the key to this game will be getting Dalton Knecht back on track from the field. He shot 5/18 from the floor against Texas in the second round of this tournament, including just 1/8 from three-point range. If Tennessee is going to get by Creighton and into the Elite 8, they are going to need more consistent shooting from their top star.

Meanwhile, Creighton proved in their last game that they can survive a hot shooting night from a star player. They gave up a combined 60 points to Oregon’s duo of Jermaine Couisnard and N’faly Dante, but still managed to outlast Oregon in double-overtime. Creighton will hope to win this game in regulation and avoid giving up that many points to Knecht and one of his teammates in order to make that happen.

Our pick for this Creighton vs Tennessee matchup is for the Creighton Bluejays to cover the spread as slight underdogs. The size of Creighton will be a huge problem for the Vols, as Kalkbrenner is a matchup nightmare thanks to his size and versatility. Creighton could very well win this game outright, with the winner set to take on the winner of the game between Purdue and Gonzaga in Detroit on Sunday.

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