Tennessee-Ole Miss: How to watch and open game thread

Tennessee will return to action after a timely weekend off, welcoming Ole Miss to town on Wednesday night. The Volunteers are off to an 0-1 start in SEC play after dealing with their first COVID situation of the season last week.

Both Kennedy Chandler and John Fulkerson weren’t able to play against Alabama, which resulted in a heartbreaking loss in the final seconds. Both players have been cleared to return tonight.

On the Ole Miss side, they’re now dealing with some COVID issues of their own. The Rebels had four players enter protocols last week, and now this week they’ve added two more. On top of all that, Ole Miss is dealing with injuries to forward Robert Allen and Jarkel Joiner. Kermit Davis said he intends to play as long as he has the numbers available to do so, however.

The Rebels haven’t played in a couple of weeks now, and they’re coming off of a loss to Samford. Ole Miss sits at 8-4 on the season.

“Kermit is a terrific coach,” Rick Barnes said this week. “And he does a really good job mixing his defenses. From his man back to his 1-3-1, 2-3. He’s always changing things up, trying to keep you out of rhythm. He’s going to work hard at getting his players in a position to give them a chance to be successful.”

Ole Miss is led by guard Jarkel Joiner, but as mentioned above, he’s banged up. A back injury has him questionable heading into this one. Joiner is averaging over 14 points per game.

UPDATE: Joiner is OUT.

We’ll wait for updates from the Ole Miss side to see who will be available to play tonight.

Clearly, the oddsmakers have already adjusted for Ole Miss being in such a tough spot. Tennessee is currently at 16.5 point favorite, per DraftKings Sportsbook.

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

How to watch

Location: Knoxville, Tennessee

Time: 7 p.m. ET

TV Channel: SEC Network

Streaming: Watch ESPN

Radio: Vol Network