Round Two From Newark
NEWARK, N.J. -- As Texas and New Mexico State exit the court, No. 7 Tennessee and West Virginia take the court for what should be quite a battle.
The Vols are another team coming off of a 100 point performance, beating Middle Tennessee State on Nov. 20, 109-40. Led by a couple of seniors, JaJuan Smith and Chris Lofton in the backcourt, the Vols are 4-0 under third year head coach Bruce Pearl.
Smith leads the team with 17.3 points per game, while Lofton finally got back on track against MTSU after struggling out of the gate. Known for his three-point shooting ability, Lofton is just 8-for-25 from downtown to start the season. But if these rims are as kind as they were in the first game, then we should see plenty of threes.
For West Virginia, they are coached by Bob Huggins, a WVU alum who is back in Morgantown after leaving Kansas State after just one season.
The Mountaineers are receiving votes in the polls, and are led by junior guard Alex Ruoff who is averaging 19.5 points per game in the first two games of the season (the Mountaineers are 2-0), while seven-footer Jamie Smalligan is off to a good start at 12.5 points per game.
Look for WVU to try and feature Smalligan down low, considering the Vols don't have anyone in their starting lineup over 6-foot-9 (Wayne Chism).
West Virginia leads the all-time series 5-2, with the last three games being decided by a total of six points. If that means anything, I guess we'll have a close game.
Cool note with the jerseys, WVU is wearing their home yellows, while tennessee is wearing their road oranges, which makes for a cool color clash.
We're underway from Newark.
