The Tennessee Volunteers and Arkansas Razorbacks face off on Saturday afternoon in a match-up of two teams that we should be seeing in the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
TV Schedule: Saturday, Dec. 30, 1:00 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Arena: Bud Walton Arena, Fayetteville, Arkansas
The Tennessee Volunteers have been one of the biggest surprises in college basketball so far this season and- okay, let me rephrase that.
The Tennessee Volunteers have been one of the biggest surprises in college basketball this season — if you did not follow college basketball at all last season. The Volunteers lost one player from a team that beat the Kentucky Wildcats and pushed all four eventual Final Four teams under first-year head coach Rick Barnes and came into the 2017-18 season more experienced and talented than before.
Their disappointing losses to North Carolina and Villanova after leading for the majority of the game are all that keeps this team from being in the top five, and the Vols are built for extended success.
Arkansas, on the other hand, could be this season’s South Carolina Gamecocks. A plethora of talented guards with some unknowns at the forward positions due to the loss of Moses Kingsley (among others), the Razorbacks’ main forward, Daniel Gafford, has looked fantastic. This team could easily cruise to the NCAA Tournament with a top-six finish in the SEC – and maybe even top eight with a win over Kentucky or Florida.
That being said, Tennessee provides a few match-up problems for Arkansas and vice versa. The Razorbacks guards should be able to find open looks but, if they cannot knock them down, this one could get ugly for Arkansas. Tennessee’s players should be able to control the paint, as well, and, if Gafford plays one of his top games, this could get ugly for the Volunteers.
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I like both of these teams to make the NCAA Tournament and do some damage in March, but I’m going to give this one to Tennessee based on how well the Vols have done against teams that like to shoot a lot of threes so far this season.
Prediction: Tennessee 74, Arkansas 69