3. Kentucky at Tennessee
One word to describe Kentucky’s offense: potent.
The Wildcats enter their final regular-season matchup with the third-highest PPG in college basketball at 89.7 PPG, according to TeamRankings, only behind Arizona and Alabama.
Kentucky seems to put up 90 points on a given night with their box scores looking more and more like NBA box scores.
The offense is legit and thanks to the dynamism of their electric core -- Reed Sheppard, Rob Dillingham, DJ Wagner, Antonio Reeves, Tre Mitchell and Justin Edwards -- the Wildcats have one the higher ceilings in all of college basketball but questions surround just how efficiently can the Wildcats defend for 40 minutes.
An opportunity awaits in Knoxville as the Wildcats will be tasked with defending a team that has vastly improved their offensive schemes yet has stayed consistent with their stubborn defensive identity, which is why Rick Barnes and the Tennessee Volunteers are in a solid position to earn a one seed come Selection Sunday.
Addressing the elephant in the room, Dalton Knecht has surpassed all expectations. The soon-to-be SEC Player of the Year has opened up Tennessee’s offense tremendously and has given the Volunteers an elite go-to scorer when a bucket is needed -- something that will surely help them down the stretch in the NCAA Tournament.
The Volunteers are better positioned to go on a deep run in March and sending out their seniors -- Dalton Knecht, Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi -- on a positive note on Saturday would be an ideal scenario to keep the momentum brewing in Knoxville.