The Tennessee Volunteers have cruised to a 16-1 record including an undefeated mark at home with 11 victories. They’ll look to make it an even dozen on Saturday afternoon when they play host to the West Virginia Mountaineers.
The Mountaineers played well in the early part of their non-conference schedule, but weren’t really tested much until the New Year. Since then, the team has one just a single game—a surprising upset against Kansas in a game they hosted. Like Tennessee, Kansas is a top-ranked team so anything is possible, but don’t look for this 9-10 team to come up with a massive upset in back-to-back weeks.
Still, do the Mountaineers have what it takes to at least keep this one close and cover the spread or will a much superior Volunteers team run away with this on their familiar court?
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West Virginia Mountaineers vs. Tennessee Volunteers
Date and Time: Saturday, January 26, 2019, 4 p.m. ET
Location: Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee
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Mountaineers vs. Volunteers TV Coverage: ESPN
The Mountaineers were 8-4 in non-conference play and looked at least respectable on the surface, but those numbers came against lackluster competition as the team has gone into a tailspin since the start of Big-12 play. It’s back out of conference on Saturday, but against a tougher opponent.
West Virginia is the bottom of the barrel in the Big-12, going 1-6 in seven games. Granted, the Mountaineers did get their lone conference win against Kansas who was ranked No.7 going into the game.
The Mountaineers topped the Jayhawks in a tight battle, 65-64, as Kansas struggled shooting early in the game and West Virginia played uncharacteristically strong defense with 11 steals. The Mountaineers also beat out the Jayhawks on the glass.
The win was a huge upset, but it did come in Morgantown. Now, the Mountaineers will play a team ranked even higher than Kansas, this time on the road.
Since the win over Kansas, West Virginia has already lost a home game to Baylor to go in line with the other five in-conference losses to Texas Tech, Texas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and TCU.
The Mountaineers are built mainly on small forwards though the team does have three players inside with at last 10 PPG, though just barely, in Esa Ahmad, Derek Culver and Lamont West. Culver provides a bit more size and is a good rebounder with 8.3 RPG. Ahmad, West and Wesley Harris contribute on occasion on the glass, but the team greatly misses Sagaba Konate.
On the outside, James Bolden is the primary scorer with 12.8 PPG, but he’s not a great perimeter shooter nor are the other guards on the roster most of whom are averaging fewer than five PPG.
As a team, West Virginia has been wildly inefficient shooting with a field goal percentage of .421 while shooting south of 32-percent outside.
Meanwhile, Tennessee is one of the most accurate teams in the country, sinking 51.1-percent of its shots from the floor and 36.4-percent on the perimeter. The Volunteers are even a much better shooting team from the free-throw line, too.
On the glass, the Volunteers have Grant Williams, Admiral Schofield and Kyle Alexander as major contributors while Jordan Bone has been an excellent point guard with great court awareness and 6.4 APG while also adding 13.2 PPG. He’s not a great outside shooter, but Williams, Schofield and Jordan Bowman can sink a deep shot now and then to help spread the court.
Williams is the team’s leading scorer with 18.9 PPG though Schofield is just a big behind at 17.4 PPG. Williams has an excellent shooting percentage, taking most of his shots inside the paint while Schofield is averaging more than two threes a game, but also showing versatility.
With Lamonte Turner back on the floor for eight games now, the team has six players with at least 9.9 PPG as the squad is scoring an average of 86-points.
This is a very deep roster that can put up the points, but also plays quality defense. Williams nabs key steals and blocks while Alexander plays a big defensive role inside and Turner has added a defensive boast on the perimeter.
Tennessee has yet to lose a game in conference and is 16-1 overall with—interestingly—the team’s lone loss coming in the Mountaineers’ conference against the only team they’ve been able to beat, Kansas.
Live Betting
In their last four games, the Mountaineers allowed 85 or more points in three of four games, the Kansas game being the lone exception.
In that one, Kansas struggled shooting early and the West Virginia defense played well in the first half to keep the score suppressed enough to allow the surprise upset. Tennessee’s offense is better than Kansas’s. We’re likely in for a wildly different start to the game.
West Virginia is a solid rebounding team, but without Konate that take a hit. Watch to see if the Mountaineers can hang in there with Vols on the boards. West Virginia isn’t a good shooting team and need all the opportunities they can get to keep this game even remotely close.
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Key Player
Tennessee should win this either way, but the team looked vulnerable at home against Alabama last time out. The offense was down, scoring just 71-points. Williams shot 8-for-17 for 21 points and Schofield scored 12 with 11 rebounds, but shot just 1-for-4 from three-point range and 4-for-17 from the floor.
To cover the spread in this one, Shoefield will need to play better. Look for him to bounce back with a more accurate shooting game and serve as a bigger outside threat. The team only scored three outside and need to do more to spread the court. Shoefield is a big part of that.
Prior to the Alabama game, the senior guard had nine threes in his previous four games, shooting 9-for-16 from the perimeter in that time. His 12 points against the Crimson Tide were also his fewest scored since December 22 and second fewest all year.
Mountaineers vs. Volunteers Live Betting
We aren’t far removed from a No.1 team losing at home in an upset, but don’t look for the Volunteers to follow Duke’s footsteps here. Tennessee should walk away from this one with a rather easy win.
West Virginia isn’t as good as Syracuse and as big of an upset as the Syracuse win was over Duke, this would be so much bigger. It’s not happening.
Look for the strong Volunteers offense to roll over a well below-average Mountaineer defense with huge games from Williams and Schoefield in particular with a couple other Tennessee players reach into double-digits as well.
Tennessee will dominate inside and win the battle of the boards with easy while simultaneously outshooting West Virginia. This game will be over at half time and just get worse from there.
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NCAA Basketball Score Prediction: Tennessee 86, West Virginia 64
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