Tennessee vs. West Virginia: 2018-19 College basketball game preview, TV schedule
West Virginia has had a disappointing season without question. But can they manage to get a season-defining win against No. 1 Tennessee?
TV schedule: Saturday, January 26, 4:00 pm ET. ESPN
Arena: Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee
After a 4-0 start in conference play and 12-game win streak overall, Tennessee 17-1 (6-0) vaulted up to the No. 1 ranking for just the second time in school history (2008). But with that kind of accolade and recognition, opponents will give you their best shot in the quest of an upset.
That’s what happened to the Vols on the road this week against Vanderbilt, down with less than a minute to go. But they were able to push it to overtime, before Grant Williams and his career-high 43 points allowed Tennessee to survive with an 88-83 OT victory. The team was able to handle Admiral Schofield scoring just six points on the night, although Jordan Bone did have a great game with 14 points and seven assists.
When the schedule for the 2019 Big 12/SEC Challenge was released, this game was viewed as the second-best on the slate next to Kansas vs. Kentucky. But that has changed after the first-half performance on the season for West Virginia 9-10 (1-6).
Even when healthy, the Mountaineers have never looked good. Then things turned downhill after starting center Sagaba Konate’s injury, which depleted anything left of the famous “Press Virginia”. They lost their first five Big 12 games, including a 31-point drubbing to TCU. Just this past week, WVU gave up 85 points at home to Baylor.
But the Mountaineers are still capable of pulling off a major win, evident by last week’s 65-64 upset over No. 7 Kansas. This is a balanced team with good frontcourt depth, led by Esa Ahmad and Lamont West, along with starting guard James Bolden. Coach Bob Huggins will play a lot of players and try to make the game ugly with a lot of fouls.
Next. Big 12/SEC Challenge preview. dark
This issue for West Virginia will be how they stop the 6th ranked scoring offense in the Vols (86.2 ppg), who is also No. 12 in free throw percentage at 77%. Williams is coming off a 23-23 night in the charity stripe versus the Vols. This is truly a bad matchup for the Mountaineers and with the game in Knoxville and Tennessee coming off a near-scare, look for them to put this away early.