Virginia vs. Vanderbilt: College basketball game preview, TV schedule

The NIT Season Tip-Off begins on Thursday with a match-up between Vanderbilt and Virginia. Who advances to the semi-finals in this one?

TV schedule: Thursday, Nov. 23, 4:00 p.m. ET, ESPNU

Arena: Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York

The Virginia Cavaliers (4-0) come into this game with a ton of momentum and confidence after winning a road game at rival VCU. Kyle Guy broke out in a big way with a career-high 29 points, including five threes made. It’s important that he plays well as Virginia doesn’t have a ton of knock shooters like him.

Regardless of who scores, the backbone of this team is on defense, where once again they’re one of the leaders in college basketball. The Cavaliers are currently ranked tenth in the nation in scoring defense, giving up just 54.3 ppg.

Devon Hall and Isaiah Wilkins are primarily responsible for the top-tier defense, with Wilkins frustrating many opponents in the post. He’s also the top rebounder for the team, bringing down 7.2 rpg.

As happy as Tony Bennett and the Cavaliers are coming into this game, the mental state of the Vanderbilt Commodores (2-2) has to be in question after the heartbreaking home loss to No. 10 USC. They led for most of the game before Jordan Mclaughlin and the Trojans furiously came back to force the game into overtime before pulling ahead in the extra five minutes.

Considering that they were coming off a road loss at Belmont (which is not shameful by any means), that was a missed opportunity for Bryce Drew and Vandy. It also wasted a 31 point effort by senior guard Matthew Fisher-Davis, who’s averaging 18.0 ppg and 6.3 rpg for the Commodores.

Joining him is fellow senior Riley LaChance, who had 19 in the previous game against USC. He’s second on the team in scoring with 14.8 ppg. They have some production down low as well, with another senior, Jeff Roberson, playing the best ball of his career, averaging a double-double so far with 13.2 ppg and 10.0 rpg.

Next: Virginia beats VCU thanks to Guy's 29

The key to this game will be how Vanderbilt’s offense deals with the defense of the Cavaliers. Bennett’s teams thrive on taking one specific player out of the game, and if Fisher-Davis can’t get it going then it could spell doom for Vandy. They can’t afford to drop to 2-3 to start off the season, but they might not have a choice.

Prediction: Virginia 69 – Vanderbilt 60