Preview: Tennessee vs. OSU

Photo Attribution: US Presswire

Vitals

Time: 9:30 AM
Location: Puerto Rico
TV: ESPNU (Cox (OKC & Tulsa) – 253 | Suddenlink (Stillwater) – 503 | DirecTV – 208 | Dish – 141)
Online TV: here
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network
Online radio: here
Announcers: Doug Sherman and Dino Gaudio
Line: n/a

Records

Cowboys – 2-0
Volunteers – 2-0

Best win

Cowboys – Akron
Volunteers – UNC Asheville

Worst loss

Cowboys – [fill in Ford joke here]
Volunteers – n/a

KenPom rank

Cowboys – 55th
Volunteers – 51st

Data nerds

[table id=57 /]

Adj. efficiency – Points per 100 possessions (adjusted for quality of opponent and site of game).
Adj. tempo – Possessions per game (adjusted for schedule and pace of other team).
Effective FG % – Takes into account extra value of 3s.
Turnover % – Turnovers divided by possessions.

Three things to watch

1. Starters? – JPO is most likely out (if not done for the year) so I wonder if Ford goes bigger with Jurick or super tiny with Forte. He’s out of swingmen (JPO was the last healthy one) unless you count Sager so his hand is forced here. I’d go Forte personally because Tennessee shoots it extremely well from outside and is only marginal on the glass. And good grief that might be the smallest lineup in the history of our program.

2. Can Smart rebound? – Yesterday Travis Ford openly shed tears over how his team battled but the truth was that Marcus Smart didn’t play all that great. He did dumb little things and still ended with an absurd 16-9-3-4-1 line. If he plays great today, OSU has a chance to win comfortably.

3. Good Nash or bad Nash? – He’s quickly becoming the Landry Jones of this OSU hoops team. You don’t know if you’re getting good LB or bad LB from game to game. Yesterday was pretty good LB but that can change faster than you can type the word lottery. OSU needs (really) good LB to win against UT.

Predictions

Tennessee 75-70