Number One Tennessee Hosts West Virginia Saturday in SEC/Big 12 Challenge

(utsports.com) KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Top-ranked Tennessee and West Virginia are set to meet on the hardwood Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena in front of a sold-out crowd as part of ESPN’s SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

The game will tip at 4 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN and can also be viewed online through WatchESPN.

In its sixth year, Tennessee (17-1) holds a 3-1 record when competing in the cross-conference showcase, including a 68-45 win at Iowa State last season. The Vols and Mountaineers (9-10) are meeting for the first time since Nov. 23, 2007, when seventh-ranked UT defeated West Virginia, 74-72, at the Legends Classic in Newark, New Jersey.

The Big Orange enters the game after a dominant performance by Grant Williams on Wednesday night to lift the Vols over in-state rival Vanderbilt on the road. The junior forward finished with a career-high 43 points. It was the most points scored in a game by a Vol since all-time leading scorer Allan Houston also dropped 43 against LSU on Feb. 10, 1990. Williams’ effort also tied for the fifth-most points in a single game in school history. Williams was 10-of-15 from the field and a program-record 23-of-23 from the free-throw line. That mark broke the Tennessee records for most free throws in a game and consecutive free throws in a single game, surpassing Bill Justus’ 22 total makes and 18 consecutive free throw makes vs. Ohio on March 17, 1969.

West Virginia lost its best player, junior forward Sagaba Konate (13.6 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 2.8 bpg), to injury in December. However, junior guard James Bolden and senior forward Esa Ahmad have stepped up in his absence. Bolden leads the team in scoring (12.8 ppg), assists (2.6 apg) and steals (1.1 spg). He is second on the team in 3-pointers with 29 makes on the year. Ahmad is an all-around player, leading the team in rebounding (5.6 rpg) and ranking second in scoring (12.3 ppg), assists (1.8 apg), steals (0.9 spg) and blocks (0.7 bpg).

The anticipation by the fans for this exciting season was felt early on when the West Virginia and Kentucky games sold out shortly after single-game tickets went on sale. Now, all Saturday home games are sold out and limited tickets are left for the remainder of Tennessee’s home slate. Visit AllVols.com soon if you’re interested in buying tickets for one of our remaining conference games.

“Without question, this is the best fan base I have ever been around,” said head coach Rick Barnes. “You talk about 21,000 fans for Tennessee Tech and almost 20,000 for Wake Forest both around the holidays. We already have some games sold out. I can tell you this is the best fanbase I have been around. I can tell you we appreciate it as a program. I know our players love it too.”

THE SERIES
• Tennessee trails the all-time series with West Virginia, 3-5, dating to 1958. This is the 196th meeting.
• The Mountaineers have a 2-1 edge when the series is played in Knoxville.
• Tennessee is 13-18 all-time against current members of the Big 12 Conference.

A WIN WOULD…
• Extend Tennessee’s win streak to 14 games. That would be UT’s longest win streak since the 1922-23 campaign, when the Vols opened the season with 14 straight victories from Jan. 8 through Feb. 20.
• Stretch the Vols’ home win streak to 20 games, dating to last season (this is the longest home win streak of the Barnes era).
• Give UT an 11-game win streak in regular-season SEC games.
• Give Tennessee a 4-1 record in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.