West Virginia vs. Virginia: College Basketball game preview, TV schedule

Who will come out on top in a showdown of the Virginias, as the Virginia Cavaliers travel to face West Virginia.?

TV Schedule:  Tuesday, Dec. 5,  7:00 p.m. ET, ESPNU

Arena: WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, West Virginia

The West Virginia Mountaineers are one of the grittiest and toughest teams in college basketball.

After a blowout loss to the Texas A&M Aggies in the first game of the season that caused many to worry, the Mountaineers have reeled off seven straight wins, including a come-from-behind victory over the Missouri Tigers.

The good news is that Texas A&M has looked like a top five team in college basketball so far, so there is no reason WVU’s opening blowout loss should concern them anymore. This team bounced back strongly and looks to only get better moving forward – as Bob Huggins’ teams always seem to do.

However, after playing inferior opposition since the Aggies, the Mountaineers will finally get to prove themselves against a ranked opponent as they play the Virginia Cavaliers in Morgantown.

Virginia, a team that is always borderline top 20, has looked amazing so far this season and destroyed their early-season expectations, finding themselves heading into week four of the college basketball season undefeated.

While the Cavaliers have yet to play any team extremely talented, they have beaten the VCU Rams, Vanderbilt Commodores, URI Rams, and Wisconsin Badgers, all of whom were expected to fight for an NCAA Tournament berth this season.

The stifling defense that Tony Bennett is known for is still going perfectly as expected, but the offensive explosion by Kyle Guy has transformed this team from a likely upset-machine to a legitimate threat in the ACC.

West Virginia will have their hands full with Guy, and we should expect a slow, grueling game in which the first to 40 will probably win. This game could go either way, and I really like this Virginia squad to surprise people this season.

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However, West Virginia gets the resume-boosting win at home in a low-scoring affair.

Prediction: West Virginia 52, Virginia 46